ASM Global
The $2.3 billion sale of ASM Global, the facility management firm that manages venues like Soldier Field in Chicago and the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, finally closed today, a full 10 months after it was announced that Legends was purchasing the firm from AEG and Canadian private equity firm Onex. The lengthy delay was the result of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Legends for allegedly violating anti-trust regulations during its review of the deal, recently disclosed documents show, which led to Legends paying a $3.5 million civil fine.
According to court records in the Southern District of New York — the same court where Live Nation is fighting a historic antitrust case against the DOJ — officials with Legends allegedly “assumed unlawful control over ASM” during a statutory waiting period that required “Legends and ASM to continue to operate as separate and independent entities while the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice reviewed the acquisition.”
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According to a DOJ complaint, Legends won the right to manage a new arena project in San Diego that had been formerly managed by ASM Global. After winning the contract, Legends assigned some of the responsibility of the contract to ASM, despite not having completed the pre-merger review or received approval from the DOJ.
In August 2023, Legends officials again allegedly violated DOJ rules that the two firms act as separate companies when they bid for a contract in North Carolina to manage an existing entertainment complex. According to the DOJ complaint, “a senior Legends executive emailed Legends’ then-CEO noting, ‘I assume we would rather have ASM chase this?’ The then-CEO informed another executive, ‘we will find out if ASM is bidding as don’t want to both be bidding,’ and set a calendar reminder for himself tospeak with a senior ASM executive about the North Carolina RFP.” The DOJ alleges that Legends and ASM also illegally shared information on two other projects they were bidding for.
Legends was accused of violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and agreed to pay a $3.5 million fine, “an amount that is less than the maximum penalty permitted,” government documents reveal, noting “a lower penalty is appropriate because of Legends’ demonstrated willingness to take corrective internal action and fight allegations in court, avoiding “the costs associated with a prolonged investigation and litigation.”
Under the agreement, Legends must “appoint an antitrust compliance officer at its expense, to conduct compliance training, to certify compliance with the Final Judgment, to maintain a whistleblower protection policy, and to provide the United States inspection and interview rights to assess compliance with the Final Judgment,” the documents read.
The sale of ASM Global to Legends got rolling last year after Canadian private equity firm Onex notified AEG of its plans to sell its 35% stake in ASM. Instead of buying out Onex, AEG agreed to put the entire company up for sale. On Nov. 3, Onex and AEG jointly announced that Legends was buying ASM, creating the country’s leading venue management company.
Representatives for Legends and ASM Global did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“The next era of Legends starts now,” said Dan Levy, CEO of Legends, in a press release issued Friday (Aug. 23). Global investment firm Sixth Streets owns majority control of Legends, with minority stakes held by subsidiaries of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys. Levy, who previously worked at Meta, became CEO of Legends in April.
Ron Bension, ASM Global president/CEO, added, “One of our ASM Global mantras for a number of years has been ‘the future is now.’ By joining Legends, that future has not only arrived, but it couldn’t be brighter. The opportunities created by our companies’ collective capabilities will elevate not only the success of our partners, clients, and projects worldwide, but the industry as a whole.”
Founded in 2008, Legends now has 400 clients under management including Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Caesars Superdome in New Orleans and OVO Arena Wembley in London. ASM Global will continue to operate under its current name for now.
Moelis & Company LLC and BofA Securities, Inc. served as financial advisors to Legends, while Ropes & Gray LLP and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP served as its legal counsel. Goldman Sachs and Jefferies served as financial advisors to ASM Global, while Latham & Watkins LLP, Hogan Lovells and Arnold & Porter served as its legal counsel.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Veteran live entertainment professional Meagan (Meg) Walker will join ASM Global (APAC) later this year as group director of arena operations.
Effective Oct. 10, ASM Global will join the venues management specialist from Live Nation, with responsibilities for the company’s arena network in Australia while supporting other arena venues in the region, reads a statement, with a focus on event acquisition, operational planning for best practice patron experience and event delivery.
Walker’s resume includes senior management roles with some of Australia’s most successful venues including Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, John Cain Arena and Palais Theatre.
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In her new role, Walker replaces Tim Worton, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
“The depth and scale of Meg’s experience in the operation of major events and live entertainment is the perfect fit to lead our portfolio of world class arenas, frequently featured in Billboard, Pollstar and Rolling Stone,” ASM APAC chairman and CEO Harvey Lister says.“Both Meg Walker and Tim Worton have long been recognized as legends in the industry and we are so fortunate to be the recipients of their expertise and professionalism as part of our management team.“Meg has proven to be an accomplished event professional with strategic and collaborative leadership skills.”
One of Walker’s great talents, says Lister, is the ability to mentor the next generation of aspiring venue managers, which will be a key part of her role to support the company’s continuing growth.
The company is currently enjoying “exponential growth and development” for its portfolio of entertainment venues in Australia, the Asia Pacific and MENA regions. Worldwide, ASM Global operates over 400 venues on five continents.
“I look forward to contributing to the ongoing strong performance and growth of the ASM Global portfolio by collaborating with all stakeholders and supporting the team to achieve their personal and professional goals,” adds Walker, “while ensuring ASM arenas maintain their world’s best practice reputation.”
Worton, meanwhile, is leaving the live entertainment industry for a new career path. As previously reported, he will step away from ASM Global at year’s end, at which time he will enter 12 months’ full-time studies at Moore Theological College in Sydney. When completed, Worton will endeavor to work in a pastoral, chaplaincy or ministry role.
Sydney-based Worton has logged 33 years in the entertainment business, including 25 years with ASM Global (previously AEG Ogden). For the past 19 years, he has served as the venues and event management specialist’s group director of arenas for APAC. Worton will work with Walker during the transition.
Veteran venues executive Tim Worton is leaving the live entertainment industry for a new career path.
Worton will step away from ASM Global at year’s end, at which time he will enter 12 months’ full-time studies at Moore Theological College in Sydney. When completed, Worton is keen to work in a pastoral, chaplaincy or ministry role.
Sydney-based Worton has logged 33 years in the entertainment business, including 25 years with ASM Global (previously AEG Ogden). For the past 19 years, he has served as the venues and event management specialist’s group director of arenas for APAC.
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“Tim has been a great ambassador for our organization. He has made an admirable and life changing decision to follow his faith and we applaud his decision and wish him well,” comments ASM Global (APAC) chairman and CEO Harvey Lister.
“Tim’s leadership and executive management of the arena portfolio is demonstrated by the continued growth of the Group’s arenas through innovation and ongoing development of entertainment content for audiences.”
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The announcement of Worton’s career pivot was made during the 31st Asia Pacific Venue Industry Congress held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC). According to organizers, this year’s edition welcomes 554 registered attendees, a new record, for a program running across 23 sessions and featuring 79 speakers.
During the VMA Awards on Tuesday night (May 21), celebrating the final evening of the confab, Worton was presented with the trade body’s 12th honorary lifetime membership.
Worton joined the VMA as a member in 1994, a year after the establishment of the association, and served on its board from 1997-2003, and was the association’s president during the period from January 2001 to May 2003. In 2022, the VMA’s council created an category in his honor, the Tim Worton Award for excellence in the area of education, becoming its first recipient.
Reflecting on his career, Worton says, “helping to ensure there is plenty of live content and the company’s arena network is operationally and financially successful is a key part of my role. What I have loved most about my career is supporting and mentoring colleagues, helping to create opportunities for future development.”
The 2024 Congress marked Worton’s 30th consecutive, and final, in attendance.
Matthew Lazarus-Hall, the Australia-born live entertainment veteran whose resume includes executive stints with Chugg Entertainment and AEG Presents, joins venue management giant ASM Global.
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Announced Wednesday (April 10), Lazarus-Hall joins the group as executive vice president, entertainment & content, with a focus on working with ASM’s growing portfolio of venues in Australia and the Asia and Middle East, North Africa (MENA) regions.
Matthew Lazarus-Hall, the founder and CEO of consultancy Square Circles Creative Solutions, will also provide support on ASM’s strategic direction and development of entertainment and other content. Initially, his focus will be on the ASM Global-managed Kai Tak Sports Park, the largest integrated sports, entertainment and retail precinct in Hong Kong, which is due to open its doors in mid-2025.
“We have worked closely with Matthew over the past 20 years and he comes with great respect across the whole entertainment industry,” says ASM Global (APAC) chairman and CEO Harvey Lister of the new recruit. “He will bring different perspectives to our organization, and we look forward to the contribution he will make to the ASM Global family of venues.”
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Lazarus-Hall was CEO of Chugg Entertainment for 13 years, working alongside the legendary concert Michael Chugg. There, he toured and worked with the likes of Elton John, Robbie Williams, Radiohead, Coldplay, Keith Urban, Luke Combs, Bette Midler, Pearl Jam and AC/DC; worked on special charity events Wave Aid, Sound Relief and Live Earth; and led the CMC Rocks QLD and the traveling Laneway Festival.
Following his departure in 2016, he joined AEG Presents, Asia Pacific as senior vice president, overseeing all touring, festivals and sports for the live entertainment giant across the Pan-Asian region.
Earlier in his career, Lazarus-Hall was operations director at Ticketek, leading ticketing for marquee events such as the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and others.
Legends Hospitality last year acquired ASM in a multi-billion-dollar deal.
Last spring, executives at Onex, AEG’s private equity partner in facility management company ASM Global, notified AEG leadership of their plans to trigger a clause in their agreement that allowed Onex to sell its 35% stake in ASM. Under the terms of the deal, AEG could either buy out Onex or match competing offers.
AEG officials instead elected to get out too, and over about half a year worked with Onex to identify a buyer for all ASM Global. On Nov. 3, Onex and AEG jointly announced that Legends Hospitality was buying ASM, the country’s leading venue management company.
Onex CEO Bobby Le Blanc told investors on a Nov. 10 earnings call that the decision to sell its ASM ownership stake for $2.3 billion was prompted by the company’s rebound in value, quickly recovering in the post-pandemic period after seeing its value dramatically drop when concerts shut down from 2020-2021 due to COVID-19.
The final sale price would double what ASM Global was worth in 2019 when AEG and Onex merged their SMG facility management holdings to create the world’s largest facility manager, Le Blanc confirmed.
Still, AEG’s decision to sell surprised many in the touring industry who had followed the company’s growth in that space.
For one, the sale made AEG a much smaller company, reducing its global footprint from 350 facilities under management to just nine — all of which AEG either owns or partially owns. And unlike Onex, as the world’s second largest concert promoter, AEG was able to enjoy significant synergies from owning ASM that other companies could not. AEG could more easily book its touring shows at ASM-managed facilities, expand its AXS ticketing platform to ASM-managed venues and sell sponsorships through its global partnerships division.
AEG and Onex merged their facilities holdings 14 months after Onex acquired SMG, AEG’s longtime facilities rival. In so doing, ASM Global became the world’s largest venue management company, with little to no competition for potentially large lucrative government contracts. Facility management has long been a predictable contracts business, in which city and county governments would pay SMG or AEG a fee to manage publicly owned venues and split any profits the private companies helped generate.
Merging the industry’s two largest competitors into ASM Global gave Onex and AEG unprecedented scale in the capital-intensive space and access to lucrative contracts. But the honeymoon didn’t last long. Oak View Group, which was founded in 2015 by former AEG CEO Tim Leiweke — who made his own failed bid to buy SMG — began growing as a serious competitor, and peeled away a number of big-name management clients away including PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the BOK Center in Tulsa and the sprawling McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. While the concert business’ post-pandemic boom has brought impressive profits, a source in facility management says that increased competition and inflation have been eating up ASM’s margins. Additionally, rising interest rates have made it difficult for firms like ASM to offer up capital investments in return for long-term management contracts, and much of the business’ growth was coming from new international venue projects, which were more costly to service.
Most recently, the bulk of AEG’s growth has been in its tour promotion business globally and through its theaters and clubs division. Since the end of the pandemic, both AEG and Live Nation have been looking to expand their network of smaller venues that they manage exclusively.
The company’s sweet spot is “locations with capacities of 1,500 to 5,000,” Rick Mueller, president of AEG Present North America, told Billboard last month. While most arena management deals do not include exclusive booking agreements because no single promoter can provide arenas enough content on their own to sustain a large facility, exclusively programming a club or theater can be much more profitable due to the leverage the contract holder has over other promoters wanting to book the venue, requiring promoters to cut them in on show deals. Now, AEG likely has more than an extra billion dollars to invest in this strategy, should it choose to do so.
Last spring, executives at Onex, AEG’s private equity partner in facility management company ASM Global, notified AEG leadership of their plans to trigger a clause in their agreement that allowed Onex to sell its 35% stake in ASM. Under the terms of the deal, AEG could either buy out Onex or match competing offers.
AEG officials instead elected to get out too, and over about half a year worked with Onex to identify a buyer for all ASM Global. On Nov. 3, Onex and AEG jointly announced that Legends Hospitality was buying ASM, the country’s leading venue management company.
Onex CEO Bobby Le Blanc told investors on a Nov. 10 earnings call that the decision to sell its ASM ownership stake for $2.3 billion was prompted by the company’s rebound in value, quickly recovering in the post-pandemic period after seeing its value dramatically drop when concerts shut down from 2020-2021 due to COVID-19.
The final sale price would double what ASM Global was worth in 2019 when AEG and Onex merged their SMG facility management holdings to create the world’s largest facility manager, Le Blanc confirmed.
Still, AEG’s decision to sell surprised many in the touring industry who had followed the company’s growth in that space.
For one, the sale made AEG a much smaller company, reducing its global footprint from 350 facilities under management to just nine — all of which AEG either owns or partially owns. And unlike Onex, as the world’s second largest concert promoter, AEG was able to enjoy significant synergies from owning ASM that other companies could not. AEG could more easily book its touring shows at ASM-managed facilities, expand its AXS ticketing platform to ASM-managed venues and sell sponsorships through its global partnerships division.
AEG and Onex merged their facilities holdings 14 months after Onex acquired SMG, AEG’s longtime facilities rival. In so doing, ASM Global became the world’s largest venue management company, with little to no competition for potentially large lucrative government contracts. Facility management has long been a predictable contracts business, in which city and county governments would pay SMG or AEG a fee to manage publicly owned venues and split any profits the private companies helped generate.
Merging the industry’s two largest competitors into ASM Global gave Onex and AEG unprecedented scale in the capital-intensive space and access to lucrative contracts. But the honeymoon didn’t last long. Oak View Group, which was founded in 2015 by former AEG CEO Tim Leiweke — who made his own failed bid to buy SMG — began growing as a serious competitor, and peeled away a number of big-name management clients away including PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the BOK Center in Tulsa and the sprawling McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. While the concert business’ post-pandemic boom has brought impressive profits, a source in facility management says that increased competition and inflation have been eating up ASM’s margins. Additionally, rising interest rates have made it difficult for firms like ASM to offer up capital investments in return for long-term management contracts, and much of the business’ growth was coming from new international venue projects, which were more costly to service.
Most recently, the bulk of AEG’s growth has been in its tour promotion business globally and through its theaters and clubs division. Since the end of the pandemic, both AEG and Live Nation have been looking to expand their network of smaller venues that they manage exclusively.
The company’s sweet spot is “locations with capacities of 1,500 to 5,000,” Rick Mueller, president of AEG Present North America, told Billboard last month. While most arena management deals do not include exclusive booking agreements because no single promoter can provide arenas enough content on their own to sustain a large facility, exclusively programming a club or theater can be much more profitable due to the leverage the contract holder has over other promoters wanting to book the venue, requiring promoters to cut them in on show deals. Now, AEG likely has more than an extra billion dollars to invest in this strategy, should it choose to do so.
It’s been a rough week for venue management firm ASM Global. On Thursday, OVG signed a contract to privately manage one of ASM’s largest clients, Chicago’s McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America, and then on Friday (July 28) OVG won the venue management and food service contract for Tulsa’s BOK Center and the 275,000-square-feet Cox Business Convention Center.
The BOK Center had been managed by ASM and formerly its predecessor SMG since the building opened in 2007 and was a crown jewel for the company, regularly landing a spot on Billboard’s Boxscore Chart for building capacities of 15,0001 seats or more. But during a special meeting Friday, the Tulsa Public Facilities Authority unanimously voted to begin exclusive negotiations with OVG360 and OVG Hospitality to manage venue operations, booking, partnerships and sponsorships, and food and beverage operations at the two venues.
“OVG will focus on creating momentum in three main areas: ensuring Tulsa is the top destination for major concerts in Oklahoma, continuing to grow the city’s national and regional convention business, and assisting the city and its stakeholders in the development of a full-service convention center hotel,” company officials announced in a press release.
“The BOK Center and Convention Center are key economic drivers in our community, and their success is critical to Tulsa’s future vitality,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “As a thriving world-class city with world-class entertainment venues, we must always be focused on continuous improvement – not self-satisfied with the success of today but focused on being even better tomorrow. I have complete confidence in OVG and their ability to build upon the success we’ve enjoyed at the BOK Center and Convention Center over the last fifteen years.”
In Chicago, an unanimous vote from the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) Board Thursday awarded the contract for private management and food services on the McCormick Place campus to OVG360 and OVG Hospitality.
The contracts, scheduled to begin on Oct. 1, 2023 and run through September 2028, were unanimously awarded following an extensive public procurement process. The change will affect the McCormick Place Convention Center, the 10,00-seat Wintrust Arena, and Arie Crown Theater.
“We’re incredibly proud that McCormick Place has entrusted OVG360 and OVG Hospitality as the new keepers of this world-renowned complex. While McCormick Place has set the industry standard for decades, we are honored to help shape its future,” said Chris Granger, president of OVG360. “We see an incredible opportunity to elevate the guest experience, support the surrounding community, drive sustainability, and grow and inspire a diverse workforce. We look forward to bringing our depth of experience from around the globe to Chicago and to building upon McCormick Place’s incredible track record.”
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