Beringea’s Eagle Rock Entertainment sold to Universal Music Group

Growth capital investor Beringea‘s portfolio company Eagle Rock Entertainment has been sold to Universal Music Group for an undisclosed sum. Beringea first invested in Eagle Rock Entertainment through its ProVen VCTs in May 2007.

PRESS RELEASE

Beringea, the growth capital investor that manages the ProVen Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), announces that portfolio company Eagle Rock Entertainment has been sold to Universal Music Group for an undisclosed sum. Beringea first invested in Eagle Rock Entertainment through the ProVen VCTs in May 2007.

Eagle Rock Entertainment is the largest producer and distributor of music programming for DVD, Blu-Ray, TV and Digital Media globally. The Grammy and Emmy Award winning catalogue features artists including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen, The Doors, Jeff Beck, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne.

Terry Shand, Eagle Rock’s Executive Chairman, added: “We thank Beringea for their support over the past years, and I am delighted to bring Eagle Rock into the UMG family. I’d like to personally thank Lucian Grainge, Boyd Muir and Max Hole for their vision and confidence and Simon, Geoff, and my team for the tremendous work they have done to date and their dedication to the future.”

Karen McCormick, Partner at Beringea, said: “Terry, Geoff, and Simon represent unrivalled industry expertise, and the team have built a business with consistent top and bottom line growth year on year. We wish the team well in the future and thank them for their success on behalf of the ProVen VCTs.”

In conjunction with the 100% sale of Eagle Rock Entertainment, Eagle-I Music Ltd has been spun out as a separately owned and operated company, in which the ProVen VCTs continue to hold an interest.

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For media enquiries please contact Beringea, T: +44 (0) 20 7845 7820
Notes to Editors
About Beringea

Beringea is an international growth capital firm with offices in London and Michigan, U.S.A, which invests in high growth companies. Beringea’s London office manages a number of funds, including the ProVen VCTs.

Beringea is a generalist investor with sector expertise in Media, Healthcare and Retail. Beringea‘s previous investments have included Fjordnet, Espresso Education, Saffron Digital and Mergermarket.

Beringea LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

web: www.beringea.com

About the ProVen VCTs

The ProVen VCTs (ProVen VCT, ProVen Growth & Income VCT and ProVen Planned Exit VCT) are funds raised under the government’s Venture Capital Trust scheme for supporting UK SMEs with equity investment. The original Ordinary share issues of ProVen VCT and ProVen Growth & Income VCT have generated higher Total Returns to investors than any other VCT share issues in their respective launch years, according to www.taxefficientreview.com.

About Eagle Rock Entertainment

Eagle Rock Entertainment is the largest producer and distributor of music programming for DVD, Blu-Ray, TV and Digital Media in the world. Eagle works directly alongside talent to produce top quality, High Definition and 3D programmes, both concerts and documentaries, including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen, The Doors, Jeff Beck, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne. Eagle’s TV library features nearly 2,000 hours of programming and there are over 800 titles currently available worldwide on DVD, Blu-Ray and digitally.

Eagle Rock, which has worked with a long list of legendary artists, has been recognized with some the industry’s most prestigious honors, including Grammy and Emmy Awards and more than 30 multi-platinum, more than 50 platinum and more than 90 gold sales certifications. Eagle continues to operate two audio music labels and has recently released both physical and digital albums by Ronnie Wood, Lindsay Buckingham, Gary Moore, Styx and Counting Crows. Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices in London, New York, Toronto, Paris and Hamburg.

About Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the global music leader, with wholly owned operations in 60 territories. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry’s premier music publishing operations worldwide.
Universal Music Group’s labels include A&M Records, Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note Records, Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol Records, Capitol Records Nashville, Caroline, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, EMI Records Nashville, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Harvest, Interscope Records, Island Records, Machete Music, Manhattan, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group, Virgin Records, Virgin EMI Records, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world’s most popular artists and their recordings. UMG’s catalogue is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes Global Digital Business, its new media and technologies division and Bravado, its merchandising company.
Universal Music Group is a fully owned subsidiary of Vivendi.