Blackstone in Talks to Back Merck Mercuriadis’s New Music Fund
- Buyout firm may give $1 billion in firepower to buy copyrights
- Former Beyoncé manager behind booming market for song catalogs
Merck Mercuriadis
Photographer: by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SXSWThis article is for subscribers only.
Blackstone Inc. is about to give music manager Merck Mercuriadis around $1 billion in firepower to buy music catalogs.
The alternative asset manager is in discussions to partner with Mercuriadis, who runs U.K.-based Hipgnosis, on a new fund dedicated to buying copyrights, according to people familiar with the matter. Mercuriadis’s company would manage the fund, which will be backed by about $1 billion in equity and debt from Blackstone’s tactical opportunities business, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.