LOS ANGELES: Hg, the manager of HgCapital Trust plc (HgT), has made an investment in Rightsline, a provider of rights and royalties management software, the companies said on Wednesday.
Terms of the overall transaction were not disclosed. HgT, a London-listed investment trust, will invest approximately £11 million in Rightsline, with other institutional clients of Hg investing alongside HgT through the Hg Mercury Fund.
The figures relate only to HgT’s share of Hg’s overall investment in Rightsline. Hg separately announced a $500 million strategic growth investment in the Los Angeles-based company to accelerate artificial intelligence product development and global expansion.
Rightsline said Klass Capital, its majority owner since 2020, Salem Partners, and the management team would also invest meaningfully alongside Hg.
The company’s platform manages over 150 million IP assets across 28 countries and processes more than $40 billion in royalties annually. Rightsline serves more than 300 organisations across eight IP-intensive verticals, including media and entertainment, publishing, consumer products, life sciences, technology, gaming, music and franchising.
HgT’s liquid resources available for future deployment, including announced transactions, an undrawn bank facility and the full-year dividend paid on May 12, 2026, are estimated at £286 million, or 12% of its pro-forma March 31 net asset value (NAV) of £2.4 billion.
The investment will reduce HgT’s outstanding commitments to invest in Hg transactions to approximately £2.1 billion, representing 87% of the pro-forma March 31 NAV.
Rightsline chief executive Patrick Arkeveld said the complexity of the IP landscape, with more platforms, territories and contractual arrangements, created an opportunity to innovate on behalf of customers.
Farouk Hussein, partner at Hg, said Rightsline’s unified platform, proprietary calculation engines and blue-chip customer base positioned the company well to expand across its core verticals.
As part of the investment, Hussein and Annie Wei from Hg will join the Rightsline board alongside Daniel Klass and Arkeveld. Ron Kasner will join as independent chair.
AQ Technology Partners, Brown Rudnick and Goodmans advised Rightsline. RBC, Latham & Watkins, and PwC advised Hg.
