Spherical Hill Music Royalty Companions has made two key govt appointments because it seeks to capitalize on rising investor curiosity in music royalties and pursue “strategic capital markets alternatives.”
The agency, which manages about USD $900 million in music rights belongings, has appointed Jeff Bunder as World Chief Monetary Officer and James King as Chief Capital Officer.
“The newly created positions additional strengthen Spherical Hill’s govt staff towards the backdrop of a persevering with enlargement of the music rights market and rising urge for food amongst world traders for publicity to its constant stream of revenues and capital appreciation potential,” Spherical Hill mentioned in asserting the appointments on March 13.
Josh Gruss, Founder and CEO at Spherical Hill Music, added, “Because the momentum within the music business continues to construct, investor curiosity in music rights is stronger than ever. We’re properly primed to reply to this as we embark on the following part of our strategic journey at Spherical Hill.”
King, the newly appointed Chief Capital Officer, joins Spherical Hill from funding financial institution Cavendish, the place he led the Funding Firms division. Primarily based in London, he has over 25 years of company finance expertise throughout the UK, Europe, and Africa.
He beforehand suggested Spherical Hill on its IPO on the London Inventory Trade, subsequent catalog acquisitions, and its $469 million portfolio sale in October 2023. The sale of Spherical Hill’s Royalty Fund portfolio marked the second profitable exit for traders who participated in Spherical Hill Fund I, which launched in 2011.
In his new position, King will give attention to increasing Spherical Hill’s investor base within the UK and Europe. He’ll work carefully with Katie Kowinski, who joined as Chief of Investor Relations and Enterprise Improvement in late 2024.
“As we pursue strategic capital markets alternatives and search to increase our investor base in the UK and Europe, I look ahead to leveraging my expertise inside the staff to determine new avenues for progress and ship distinctive worth to our traders,” King mentioned.
In the meantime, Bunder, based mostly in Nashville, brings nearly 4 a long time of personal fairness expertise to the position, having spent 30 years at EY, the place he was one of many founding members of the Transaction Advisory Companies observe and served as World Personal Fairness Chief.
He additionally held Accomplice and CFO positions at New York-based middle-market non-public fairness agency Lindsay Goldberg and Edgelight Capital. At Lindsay Goldberg, he served on the valuation and funding committees and supported plenty of portfolio corporations of their post-acquisition intervals. At Edgelight, Bunder served as Accomplice and CFO of the telecom-focused funding platform.
At Spherical Hill, Bunder will oversee finance, accounting, tax, valuation, and investor relations capabilities. He may also assist monetary technique and capital administration, and serve on the corporate’s administration, funding, and valuation committees.
“Spherical Hill, below Josh’s management, has constructed a robust status as an funding agency chief in buying and exploiting music IP rights. The staff has generated a notable monitor file, having constructed out a platform that units it other than a lot of its friends,” Bunder mentioned.
“It’s an thrilling time for music royalties in its emergence as a horny funding class. I’m trying ahead to serving to obtain the expansion aims of this enterprise and to helping Spherical Hill in fulfilling its strategic ambitions.”
Based in 2010, Spherical Hill says it has raised and deployed greater than $1.1 billion since its inception. The corporate’s portfolio now contains over 200,000 songs carried out by artists together with Whitney Houston, Bruno Mars, Chaka Khan, Morgan Wallen, Goo Goo Dolls, Bryan Adams, Matchbox Twenty, The Killers, Meat Loaf, and Madonna.
The worth of music copyrights – each recordings and compositions – jumped 11% to USD $45.5 billion in 2023, making music 38% bigger than the worldwide film business, based on a report from Will Web page, the previous Chief Economist at each Spotify and UK assortment society PRS for Music. In 2024, world music copyright revenues are forecast to have reached $50 billion, double the worth since 2014.
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