Vinyl Group Ltd (ASX:VNL) is set to boost its expansion into British and European markets through the acquisition of Serenade – a UK-based Web3 platform for physical and digital collectibles.
The Melbourne-based Vinyl has bought up Serenade’s assets – including its UK subsidiary – through a Business Deed Sale which began with a $800,000 upfront scrip payment which is to be followed by a scrip earn-out of $1.5 million based on P&L targets.
Shareholders in Serenade received $800,000 worth of Vinyl shares (valued at $0.09739) under the agreement, and will receive a further $1,500,000 in shares if the combined business of Vinyl.com and Serenade hit a revenue target of $4,000,000 and EBIT of $500,000 in the 12 months following the deal’s completion.
The deal will bring Vinyl access to physical and digital collectibles related to more than 200 global artists, include the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, Muse, Sum 41, Twnety One Pilots and Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Serenade has also developed commercial partnerships with more than 100 record labels including Warner Music Group, Beggars Group, Concord, Glassnote, FUGA and PIAS.
Vinyl has also been drawn to Serenade’s strong performance with its NFC-enabled Smart Formats offering, which had recorded 56% month-on-month growth since launching in January 2024, with this including sales of more than 12,000 units in the first half of the year.
The agreement has also seen a number of central Serenade employees join Vinyl, including CEO Max Shand, who is working full-time with Vinyl to lead Serenade, and also help to rapidly accelerate the Vinyl.com business, expanding its product offerings into physical and digital collectables whilst launching into additional markets.
Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons said the acquisition was an important development for the company.
“Max Shand has built Serenade into a business with significant potential, and through our acquisition of the platform, we’ll put the resources into Serenade to allow it to reach that potential,” he said.
“Vinyl Group is, at its core, a tech business and this was a great opportunity to expand
our tech offering. We look forward to welcoming Max and other key members of the Serenade team to Vinyl Group.”
Vinyl shares rose on the news, and at 14:35 AEST, they were trading at 10 cents – a rise of 3.09% since the market opened.
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