With Thailand’s music and leisure areas persevering with to realize speedy progress, Common Music Group (UMG) has acquired a 70 % curiosity within the catalog of RS Music – a Bangkok-based firm that’s concerned with a variety of outstanding regional acts.
RS Group (SET: RS) only recently introduced its tie-up with UMG in a proper launch in addition to a regulatory disclosure. One of many conglomerate’s many divisions – the corporate likewise owns RS Mall (“a multi-platform procuring vacation spot for holistic well being and wellbeing”) and IPO’d a lending and debt-collection enterprise known as Chase Asia final 12 months – RS Music has since April been anticipated to reach on Thailand’s inventory market by 2024.
And in keeping with higher-ups, these plans are nonetheless in movement regardless of Common Music’s initially talked about buy of 70 % of RS Music’s IP. As described within the highlighted regulatory disclosure, the roughly $46 million (฿1.61 billion) transaction, which is anticipated to wrap by the third quarter, will see RS switch seemingly all its music belongings to a brand new firm.
This contains the entity’s masters and publishing catalog (extending to some 10,000 tracks, per execs), artist contracts (excluding administration offers, nonetheless), and extra, the submitting reveals, with UMG poised to take the 70 % stake on this forthcoming unit. In the meantime, RS “could obtain further consideration” of near $5 million (฿173.8 million) from UMG down the road, the doc signifies, “with the phrases and situations to be mutually agreed by the events.”
Addressing the settlement in an announcement, RS Group CEO Surachai Chetchotisak emphasised the union’s perceived potential to reinforce Thai music’s presence on the world stage.
“We’re glad to associate with UMG, as a imply[s] to develop alternatives for Thai music within the worldwide market,” communicated the RS head, whose firm’s music unit mentioned in April that it was concentrating on round $20 million in income for 2023. “It’s going to additionally play a big function in driving Thai comfortable energy and mark the primary stepping stone for future tasks and companies. This three way partnership will create alternatives inside [the] music trade and strengthen RS Music even additional.”
And in a subsequent launch, the RS CEO touched upon a need to spearhead collaborations with worldwide artists – moreover reiterating that these and associated efforts “will drive our music enterprise underneath RS Music to enter the Inventory Trade of Thailand in 2024 as anticipated.”
About one 12 months again, Common Music inked an expanded partnership cope with Hype Practice Group in Thailand – the place well-entrenched native gamers proceed to command a considerable home presence – and Dwell Nation scooped up the concert events and leisure unit of TERO. Extra lately, Thai rapper and entertainer Khanngoen Nuanual bought a majority curiosity in movie distributor M Photos.