Bond Investors See Another Side of Bob Dylan

Goldman Sachs bankers may be Living the Blues, after investors shunned a bond backed by royalties from music by Bob Dylan and other artists.

The unusual bond, or asset-backed security, is being sold on behalf of Sesac, which holds the rights to music by Dylan and Neil Diamond among many other artists.

Under the terms of the bond, Sesac would raise $300m (£190m) backed by royalties generated by its artists. The bankers were due to price the bond earlier in August, but reports suggest it has now been delayed until September.

Bankers may blame a Simple Twist of Fate but market participants suggest the delay demonstrates the continuing difficulty in selling such esoteric products, even in the current climate. As investors flock to bonds for safety, driving prices higher and yields lower, bond investors have been pushed towards more esoteric products in the hunt for yield.

It is thought Goldman Sachs originally structured the deal as one tranche of debt, which would be rated BBB- by Standard & Poor's, one notch above junk status. But, after investor meetings, the bank is said to be restructuring the bond into two separate tranches. That would mean investors in a higher-rated tranche would be paid back before investors in a lower-rated tranche, if Sesac defaulted on its debt.

The bankers may now be singing Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance, as they market the deal for the second time. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

It would not be the first time musical rights have been used in a complex structured debt product. David Bowie famously securitised the current and future revenues from his first 25 albums in 1997, shortly before the digital music revolution blew a hole in artists' royalties.

This article was written by Josephine Moulds, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 31st August 2012 11.50 Europe/London