Warner Music presses play on New York float

Warner Music - one of the world's big three recorded music groups - is pressing ahead with plans to float in New York despite coronavirus disruption in a move that values it at about $13bn.

The Len Blavatnik-controlled company will sell 70m shares at between $23 and $26, raising up to $1.8bn. He paid just $1.3bn for Warner in 2011.

Warner first announced a plan to list in early February before pressing pause the following month amid market chaos caused by the pandemic.

However, music fans have not cancelled streaming subscriptions as some had feared, helping Spotify shares to hit a new record high earlier this month.

Warner Music revenues hit $4.5bn last year and have risen by half since 2015, while net profit came in at $258m.

Its labels include Atlantic Records and Parlophone and has artists ranging from Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Cardi B, Madonna and Bruno Mars. The company also owns music publisher Warner Chappell.

While Warner trails Universal Music in terms of market share, it is only fractionally behind Sony Music.

Late last year Vivendi agreed last year to sell a minority stake in Universal to China’s Tencent in a deal that valued the group at €30bn.

Universal, Warner and Sony accounted for just over two thirds of the global recorded music market last year, almost the same as 2018, according to the consultancy MIDiA . Revenues rose by 11pc to $21.5bn as more people choose to pay for music streaming platforms.

The major record labels retained the lion’s share of the overall market in 2019, accounting for 67.5pc of the total – down half a point from 68pc in 2018.

Independent labels made up most of the difference, with a very small but growing slice accounted for by artists without labels.