Believe founder Denis Ladegaillerie, whose digital music company has taken another step towards privatization. Photo Credit: Believe
Through a consortium called Upbeat Bidco, those parties say they own nearly 97% of Believe’s share capital and possess over 95% of voting rights. Long story short, the sizable interest resulted from a 2024 tender offer that Upbeat Bidco spearheaded despite strong indications of a Believe takeover attempt from Warner Music Group.
Ultimately, Warner Music opted against submitting a formal bid for Believe, which IPO’d in 2021 and trades as BLV on the Euronext Paris. Despite its above-noted BLV holding, however, Upbeat Bidco didn’t convince every Believe investor to sell their shares last year.
This represents a modest premium from BLV’s recent prices and from the original €15-per-share tender offer, the consortium pointed out in more words. BLV was hovering right around the €15.30 mark at the time of writing.
According to the consortium, an “ad-hoc committee” (consisting of the three Believe board members without ties to Upbeat Bidco) unanimously endorsed the privatization proposal. Pending approval from France’s Financial Markets Authority, the offer is expected to run through Q2 2025, per the official announcement.
Notably, the consortium seems to have a plan in place should any shareholders resist selling. Once the offer period concludes, the relevant Believe stockowners will “receive a compensation equal to the Offer price” as part of a “squeeze-out,” Upbeat Bidco emphasized.
In other words, it appears that Believe’s run as a publicly traded company is coming to an end. Though time will tell exactly what the point means from a strategic and operational perspective, we aren’t without insight here.
During 2024’s latter half, an acquisition-minded Believe scooped up 25% of Romania’s Global Records and the remaining 40% of Turkey’s Doğan Music. Additionally, Believe, which posted solid 2024 financials, scored a “landmark” distribution deal with Japan’s Teichiku Entertainment three weeks ago.
All that said, recent months haven’t lacked less-than-positive developments for Believe, which, along with its TuneCore subsidiary, is facing a $500 million lawsuit submitted by Universal Music Group.
The high-stakes infringement battle is still in its early stages; Believe’s official answer and an initial pretrial conference are now slated for June 4th and 18th, respectively.
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Believe Music Consortium Renews Privatization Plan Via New Offer – Digital Music News
