Primary Wave Reportedly Edging Closer to Acquiring Kobalt

Photo Credit: Kobalt Music

Primary Wave is reportedly nearing ever closer to putting in an offer to acquire independent music publisher Kobalt Music Group.

Primary Wave is inching closer to putting together a deal to acquire independent music publishing admin company Kobalt Music Group, according to Billboard. The acquisition would create a massive independent music company with over $7 billion in assets. Goldman Sachs is said to be representing Kobalt in the matter, after advising the company in its sale to Francisco Partners back in 2022.

Primary Wave already has stakes in major catalogs like Prince, Britney Spears, and Bob Marley, and is worth nearly $6 billion in its own right. Kobalt, meanwhile, was worth around $750 million when it was acquired by Francisco Partners. Since then, the company has grown significantly, and analysts say it could fetch a sale price of roughly $1.5 billion—especially if its assets purchased with Morgan Stanley are on the table.

Francisco Partners holds a 90% controlling interest in the company, while Dundee Partners, Matt Pincus and Kobalt founder Willard Ahdritz also own stakes. Previously, Pincus sold his company SONGS and its music publishing catalog to Kobalt in 2017, which was then sold to Dundee Partners in 2021.

Kobalt previously sold another music publishing portfolio to Hipgnosis Songs Fund in 2020, but has since been acquiring music assets again under Francisco Partners’ ownership alongside Morgan Stanley. These included rights related to the catalogs of pop groups *NSYNC and AJR, as well as those from a variety of songwriters.

If the assets acquired through Kobalt’s partnership with Morgan Stanley are included in the deal, that could spell even bigger dollar signs for Primary Wave. However, there’s a good chance these won’t be included, and sources tell Billboard that the joint venture acquisitions are highly leveraged; rights acquired by Kobalt were notably not covered by the consolidated financial results the company filed to the UK’s Companies House.

Should the proposed deal go through, Primary Wave would become a serious powerhouse of an independent music publishing and administration platform. The company would also own Kobalt’s AMRA, the global music collection organization that sources both mechanical and performance royalties directly from digital service providers. That could cut out some significant middleman fees that Primary Wave currently pays to collection societies, spelling improved profitability for the company.