Merck Mercuriadis withdraws from Hipgnosis Song Management

Merck Mercuriadis, founder and chairman of Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), has announced his intention to leave the company.

He will step down once Blackstone’s planned $1.58 billion acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund through Lyra Bidco is completed.

Mercuriadis founded HSM in 2018 and stepped down as the company’s CEO in February.

“Six years after founding HSM, I have decided that now is the right time for me to step down from my role as chairman. This is a good opportunity for me to make a strategic shift in focus and spend more time advocating for the interests of songwriters to ensure they are fairly compensated for their work,” he said.

The takeover of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund still depends on the approval of the fund shareholders at the upcoming court hearing and the Song shareholders at the general meeting.

The court must also approve the plan at the hearing, which will take place on July 8 at 10 a.m. The general meeting will take place immediately afterwards at 10:15 a.m.

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Qasim Abbas, Senior Managing Director of Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, added: “On behalf of Blackstone, I would like to thank Merck for his support and contribution to HSM. Merck’s commitment to and dedication to songwriters is unmatched and we respect the platform he founded and will look to build on it.

“We are committed to this asset class and in the three years of our partnership with Merck and HSM, we have acquired the catalogs of some of the world’s most significant songwriters and artists through Hipgnosis Songs Assets.

“Thanks to the strong leadership, the company is now well positioned to benefit from the growing market for music rights.”