Apollo Sells $1.8 Billion Bond Backed by Concord Music Royalties

  • The firm anchored the deal through Athene, other funds
  • Size of ABS deal was increased in response to demand
Musicians Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins and Tony Banks pose before talking about their band Genesis during a press conference at the Air Canada Centre on September 5, 2007 in Toronto. Photographer: Darryl James/Getty Images North America
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Apollo Global Management Inc. has priced $1.8 billion of bonds backed by music copyrights in Concord Music Royalties’ first securitization, having bought the largest debt of the securities it marketed.

The Concord transaction is the largest music royalties asset-backed bond ever, according to Bret Leas, head of asset-backed finance at Apollo. It repackages royalty payments — both publishing and sound recording rights — from a catalog of more than one million music assets including those of Genesis, R.E.M. and Rodgers and Hammerstein.