Shamrock Capital

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Shamrock Capital raised $600 million in a new fund aimed at acquiring film, television, music, video games and sports rights, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 2).

Founded in 1978 as Roy E. Disney‘s family office, Shamrock now says it has $4.4 billion of total assets under management, including $2 billion in its content strategy, thanks to the close of this new fund, the Shamrock Capital Content Fund III.

Shamrock has become a powerful force in music catalog investment space, which continues to draw in deep-pocketed Wall Street investors, like Brookfield Asset Management.

Shamrock made headlines in 2020 when it bought Taylor Swift’s Big Machine catalog from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. (Braun’s firm acquired the master recordings as part of its acquisition of Big Machine in 2019.) Last month, Shamrock bought a portion of Dr. Dre’s music income streams and some owned music assets alongside Universal Music Group. Its other investments include Stargate’s publishing catalog, the trade publication AdWeek and the fantasy sports platform FanDuel.

“We are truly grateful to our existing and new investors for their commitment to this fund and our strategy overall,” said Patrick Russo, partner at Shamrock. “The closing of SCCF III continues to build on our multi-product platform and long-term strategy of owning and financing premium content and media rights. Our track record of successfully investing in these sectors stands out and uniquely positions Shamrock to capitalize on the trends, changes, and opportunities across the global media and entertainment landscape.”

In 2021, Shamrock expanded into the lending space with a $196-million debt fund intended to loan money to intellectual property owners across music, film, TV, games and sports. Shamrock’s Capital Debt Opportunities Fund raised the money from both existing and new limited partners and is managed by Shamrock partners and other investment professionals, including pension funds, foundations and financial institutions.