Los Angeles-based investment firm Shamrock Capital has raised $1.6 billion across two new funds: the Shamrock Capital Growth Fund VI and Shamrock Capital Clover Fund I.
The Growth VI fund will participate in equity investments of at least $45 million, while Clover I will participate in investments under $45 million.
Shamrock Capital is best known for buying the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums from Ithaca Holdings in November 2020. Sources have since told MBW that the deal cost Shamrock in the region of $405 million.
In January 2023, Billboard reported that Shamrock – alongside Universal Music Group – was one of two buyers of Dr. Dre’s music assets, with around $200 million changing hands in total.
While Shamrock doesn’t confirm that it will be looking to make acquisitions in the music industry specifically via the new funds, it did say that it will focus on “buyout and later-stage growth equity investments in middle market companies” across its target sectors.
Shamrock’s target sectors include: media, entertainment, content, communication, sports, marketing, and education.
The company’s President, Steve Royer, also confirmed that it will be looking to partner with companies in “various sub-sectors” of those target markets, which could, of course, include music.
According to Shamrock, after launching the fundraising in Q1, Growth VI was quickly oversubscribed, ultimately surpassing its hard cap of $1.25 billion, while Clover I also significantly surpassed its target, raising approximately $320 million within six months.
Just three months ago, the Los Angeles-based firm acquired a portfolio of film, television, and music rights from Vine Alternative Investments Group – the company that acquired a catalog of more than 150 songs from Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum-selling producer, songwriter, and DJ Calvin Harris in 2020.
According to Shamrock Partner Patrick Russo, via the WSJ, the assets acquired as part of the Vine deal brought Shamrock’s holdings to ‘more than 1,000 films and 3,000 hours of TV and well in excess of 20,000 musical compositions’.
The Vine deal’s value was undisclosed. However, citing Shamrock Partner Patrick Russo, the Wall Street Journal said in July that it marked Shamrock’s largest-ever individual transaction via its Content Strategy vertical, which was established around a decade ago.
Shamrock’s latest fundraise arrives nearly two years after the company raised more than $600 million in commitments for its content strategy, via its Content Fund III LP.
At the time (in February 2023), Shamrock reported that, including the SCCF III commitments, its Content Strategy had reached $2 billion in AUM.
According to the WSJ, the Vine portfolio transaction brought the value of Shamrock’s Content Strategy assets to roughly $2.4 billion.
Shamrock has approximately $6.6 billion of assets under management across the entire firm.
“We see significant opportunities to continue to partner with talented management teams in leading companies across media, entertainment, communications, and various sub-sectors, and will maintain our longstanding approach as value-added, collaborative partners.”
Steve Royer, President, Shamrock Capital
“We believe our latest funds, Growth VI and Clover I, position us to continue to generate compelling returns for our investors by making high conviction, thematic, and differentiated investments in dynamic, growth-oriented sectors of the economy,” said Steve Royer, President, Partner of Shamrock Capital.
“We see significant opportunities to continue to partner with talented management teams in leading companies across media, entertainment, communications, and various sub-sectors, and will maintain our longstanding approach as value-added, collaborative partners.”
Royer added: “We are extremely grateful for the support from our existing investors, many of whom have partnered with Shamrock over multiple funds and through the launch of Clover I.
“Additionally, we are looking forward to partnering with our new investors, whose trust and commitment have created a strong foundation upon which we can build fruitful partnerships for the future’.
According to today’s (November 4) announcement from Shamrock, the new Funds have dedicated teams of Shamrock’s senior investment professionals and “will leverage firm-wide resources and a shared pipeline to efficiently source and execute new deals”.
Clover I will be led by Partners Ryan Smiley and Sam Halls. Smiley rejoined Shamrock late last year to co-Head Clover I. Most recently, he served as a General Partner and Managing Director at RLH Equity Partners after beginning his career as an Associate at Shamrock.
Halls has been a member of the private equity investment team at Shamrock for nearly a decade and has worked on deals starting with Shamrock Capital Growth Fund III, L.P. through the latest fund, while also serving on the Boards of various Shamrock portfolio companies.
The Clover I team also includes Vice Presidents Sreyas Samantula and Ari Adler.
According to Shamrock, the Funds’ limited partners include a “diverse mix of pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, insurance companies, and other financial institutions”.
Elsewhere at Shamrock, in June 2021, the company closed a $1 billion growth fund called Shamrock Capital Growth Fund V, and a month later it raised another $400 million for a fund to invest in entertainment IP, including music copyrights. It also raised $196 million to offer loan structures to IP owners.Music Business Worldwide
