Blackstone Group, which is lead by Stephen Schwarzman, has entered into an agreement to acquire the only U.S music rights organization SESAC Holdings from Rizvi Traverse Management. Although financial terms were not disclosed, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Nashville based company sold a 75 percent stake to Rizvi Traverse in 2013 for $600 million.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2017.
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SESAC currently licenses the public performances of more than 400, 000 songs on behalf of its 30, 000 affiliated songwriters, composers and music publishers.
The list includes such familiar names as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, RUSH, The Avett Brothers and Paul Shaffer and Thompson Square.
SESAC has long represented the music on some radio stations and TV’s biggest shows including Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Parenthood among many others.
This transaction is Blackstone’s first-ever investment in the music industry, and first as part of its core private equity strategy, which is specifically designed to hold private equity investments for 10-15 years, more than twice the holding period of a traditional private-equity fund.
