Influence Media Partners, a leading music and entertainment company focused on partnering with and investing in top music talent, announced it has secured approximately $360 million in debt financing through an inaugural private securitization, collateralized by music royalties from a portion of its impressive total portfolio. The issuance had attracted funding from premier investors including, but not limited to, Nuveen, PPM America, Aflac, Pacific Life, and accounts managed by HPS Investment Partners.
Before joining Influence, Hazan spent over 20 years in the C-suite of Sony Music divisions as GM and CFO. Attorneys who advised Influence Media in the transaction include Latham & Watkins serving as Securitization Counsel, Schulte Roth & Zabel (SRZ) as Corporate Counsel, and Alter, Kendrick & Baron (AKB) as Music Counsel.
Launched in 2019, Influence Media’s investment strategy is built on “modern evergreens,” songs, and diverse artists with a strong potential for long-term impact on pop culture. Utilizing strategic relationships with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Warner Music Group, Influence has invested in over 30 catalogs from a range of successful cross-genre artists and songwriters. Influence’s innovative partnership with Enrique Iglesias marked the company’s first-ever NIL deal.
This funding round also follows the launch of Influence’s new independent frontline record label, music publishing and distribution company, SLANG. And the deal was led by Goldman Sachs and Truist Securities, who acted as co-structuring and joint placement agents, and BlackRock, who were joint placement agents. Lynn Hazan, Co-Managing Partner at Influence Media, oversaw this effort on behalf of the company.
KEY QUOTES:
“Securing this funding is a testament to Influence’s thoughtful, disciplined and highly strategic vision that prioritizes artist partnership and strong collaboration. Our strategy has allowed us to amass an exceptional roster of catalogs and artist partners who are the heartbeat of Influence Media. This new round of financing will enable us to continue expanding our portfolio, unlock new opportunities, and join forces with even more incredible talent. We are grateful to our partners at Goldman, Truist and BlackRock for their relentless commitment to this accomplishment.”
- Lynn Hazan, Co-Managing Partner at Influence Media
“BlackRock was thrilled to partner with Influence as both a long-term investor and placement agent in this transaction. We continue to be impressed by the team’s financial discipline and underwriting. Additionally, the high-quality roster of institutional investors in this deal is a testament to the strength of the platform that Lylette, Lynn, and Rene have built.”
- Hilary Thorndike, Managing Director at BlackRock
