DLA Piper advises Dundee Partners in its US$1.1 billion acquisition, with KKR, of Kobalt Capital’s Fund II music rights portfolio

DLA Piper represented Dundee Partners, the investment office of the Hendel family, in its acquisition, together in a joint venture with global investment firm KKR, of the KMR Music Royalties II portfolio from Kobalt Capital Limited for approximately US$1.1 billion.

The portfolio is comprised primarily of music publishing copyrights for established works and includes a diverse collection of over 62,000 recordings by highly acclaimed artists across pop, rock, dance, hip hop, country and other genres. Upon closing of the sale, ownership of the Fund II copyrights will transfer to Chord Music Partners, a platform established by KKR in a joint venture with Dundee Partners. Kobalt Music Publishing will continue to administer and service the works in Fund II under a multi-year agreement.

“We utilized our extensive multi-jurisdictional M&A capabilities, strong transactional team and music industry experience to facilitate this successful acquisition for our client,” said Adam Brenner, the DLA Piper partner who co-led the deal team along with US M&A chair Jonathan Klein.

“We appreciated the opportunity to help Dundee Partners achieve its goals through this portfolio acquisition,” Klein said. “The music rights space has been extremely active, and it was a pleasure to bring our sophisticated transactional capabilities to advise on this deal.”

“The DLA Piper team provided exceptional guidance and support, and their efforts enabled us to navigate the nuances of this transaction smoothly and efficiently,” said Sam Hendel of Dundee Partners. “We saw them as true counselors advising us through complex negotiations.”

In addition to Brenner and Klein (both of New York), the DLA Piper team representing Dundee Partners included partners Robert J. Sherman, co-chair of the firm’s Entertainment Finance practice, Claire Hall (both of Los Angeles), Jon Kenworthy (London), Anders Malmström, Carl Schwieler (both of Stockholm), Paolo Morante (New York) and Jordan Bailowitz (Baltimore); of counsel Lauren Ford (Washington, DC) and Scott Bradford (Los Angeles); and associate Anthony Delury (New York).

With more than 1,000 corporate lawyers globally, DLA Piper helps clients execute complex cross-border transactions seamlessly while supporting clients across all stages of development. The firm has been rated number one in global M&A volume for 11 consecutive years, according to Mergermarket.

DLA Piper's market-leading international team of sport, media and entertainment lawyers, located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, advises on finance, borrowing, investment and corporate issues, production and rights acquisitions, exploiting media rights, staging and exploiting live sports and other events, intellectual property protection and enforcement, regulatory and administrative issues, antitrust and competition law, stadium and arena development and on the resolution of disputes.