The firm is one of the leading valuation and advisory firms in the music industry’s large-scale M&A market. Now, Citrine Cooperman (CC) has an interesting new owner…and a hefty price tag.
A Blackstone-led investor group has acquired a majority stake in New York-based CC, acquiring the company’s previous investor, New Mountain Capital.
The Financial Times reports that the deal gives Citrine Cooperman, which claims to be one of the largest professional services firms in the United States, an enterprise value of more than $2 billion.
Of course, New Mountain Capital is a familiar name to MBW readers. The company is a tech-savvy private equity firm that acquired a majority stake in BMI last year in a deal worth more than $1 billion.
New Mountain originally acquired control of Citrine Cooperman in 2021, giving the latter company an enterprise value of $500 million (at the time).
Founded in 1979, Citrin Cooperman provides tax, advisory and accounting services to a wide variety of businesses and high net worth individuals.
In the music industry, Citrine is best known as home to music copyright expert Barry Massarsky and his team.
Citrine Cooperman acquired Masarski’s company, Masarski Consulting, in 2022 (a year after New Mountain acquired a majority stake in CC). As a result, Mr. Masarski became a partner at Citrine Cooperman.
Massarsky Consulting valued more than $6 billion in deals in 2021, with M&A deals with companies including Downtown, Reservoir, BMG, SONGS, Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, and Warner Chappell Music. I worked on it.
Mr Masarski (and later Mr Citrin) was also the go-to independent valuer for the Hypnosis Songs Fund for many years after it floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2018.
If you’re an astute observer, you may already be aware of the web’s complexities.
Blackstone-owned funds, which now own Citrine Cooperman, acquired Hypnosis Songs Fund last summer in a private transaction valued at $1.584 billion.
(As time will tell, this conflict may lead Citrine to voluntarily recuse itself from certain valuation obligations for Blackstone-managed music assets in the future.)
Blackstone’s interests in the music business extend beyond Citrine Cooperman and Hypnosis.
Blackstone acquired SESAC from Rizvi Travers Management in 2017, valuing the latter at more than $1 billion.
SESAC Music Group is currently managed by funds managed by Blackstone’s core private equity arm. In contrast, Hypnosis is managed by funds managed by Blackstone’s tactical operations division.
These two units operate separately from each other within Blackstone’s global network.
Commenting on the new acquisition of Blackstone/CC, Citrine Cooperman CEO Alan Badi said, “As Blackstone enters its next chapter of growth, Citrine Cooper We are excited to have reached an agreement to invest in Man.”
Badey added: “Blackstone will help us make additional investments in expanded service offerings and technology as we deliver on our continued commitment to a best-in-class culture and deliver a superior customer experience.
“We would like to thank New Mountain for their long-standing partnership in building and supporting our business.”
Eli Nagler, Blackstone Senior Managing Director, and Kelly Wannop, Blackstone Managing Director, added:
“We are excited to invest in this business as we continue to provide the highest quality products.”
Andre Moura and Nikhil Debrapalli, Managing Directors of New Mountain, said: “We are proud of our successful partnership with Citrine Cooperman and would like to thank Citrine Cooperman’s management, partners and staff for all they have accomplished together over the past three years. appreciate” .
“We look forward to watching Citrine Cooperman continue to grow for the benefit of all of our clients and stakeholders.”
Deutsche Bank Securities is serving as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP are serving as legal advisors on Blackstone’s acquisition of CC.
Guggenheim Securities, LLC is serving as lead financial advisor to New Mountain and Citrin Cooperman, and Koltin Consulting Group is serving as additional financial advisor to the parties.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman, LLP, and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP are serving as legal advisors to New Mountain and Citrin Cooperman. world music business
