In Brief: Songwriting Trio Gets $30M in Securities Sale

A group of popular songwriters has followed David Bowie's lead and turned to Wall Street for cash.

The songwriting trio of Edward Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Brian Holland pocketed $30 million from securities backed by royalties expected to be owed them in the future. Holland, Dozier, and Holland composed Motown standards including "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg."

The sale of the securities was disclosed Sunday evening, but rumors of the deal had circulated in the press since April.

The securities were rated A by Moody's Investors Service and Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., and sold by David Pullman, a Fahnestock & Co. investment banker who last year sold $55 million of bonds backed by Mr. Bowie's royalties.

Mr. Pullman said in an interview that the idea him during a visit to the Motown Cafe, a New York theme restaurant. "It was about a month after the Bowie deal, and I was having lunch and saw all these hits on the walls and thought, 'Hey, this could be an unbelievable pool,'" he said.

The securities are backed by a pool of more than 300 songs and have a maturity of about 15 years, Mr. Pullman said. They yield 100 to 200 basis points above U.S. Treasury notes, he said, and were bought by a syndicate of insurance companies.

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