Vivendi
CTS Eventim completed the acquisition of Vivendi’s festival business and ticketing company, See Tickets, for 300 million euros ($327 million), Vivendi announced Thursday (June 6). The German concert promoter and ticketing company had entered into a put option to acquire the businesses from Vivendi on April 2.
The acquisition includes such festivals as the Junction 2 in the United Kingdom and Garorock in France. Vivendi’s performance hall business, See Tickets France and Brive Festival in France, were not included in the deal.
The two acquired businesses had 137 million euros ($148 million) of revenue in 2023. See Tickets, which counts Glastonbury Festival and Tomorrowland as clients, had revenue of 105 million euros ($114 million) and earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) of 26 million euros ($28 million). The festival business had revenue of 32 million euros ($35 million).
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The acquisition will provide a big boost to CTS Eventim’s existing ticketing sales. In 2023, Vivendi’s ticketing business sold 44 million tickets in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and its largest market, the United Kingdom. That was roughly half of CTS Eventim’s 2023 internet ticket volume of 82.9 million tickets, according to the company’s 2023 annual report.
“The acquisition supports our internationalization strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale,” said CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement announcing the acquisition in April.
CTS Eventim’s ticketing business had revenue of 717.3 million euros ($776 million) in 2023, up 32% from the prior year, with EBITDA of 382.4 million euros ($414 million), up 47%. Its concert promotion business had revenue of 1.67 billion euros ($1.8 billion) and EBITDA of 111.6 million euros ($121 million).
German concert promoter and ticketing company CTS Eventim agreed to buy French media company Vivendi‘s festival and international ticketing businesses, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday (April 2).
CTS Eventim and Vivendi have signed a put option agreement for the deal, which includes leading U.K. ticket merchant See Tickets along with Vivendi festivals Junction 2 in the U.K. and Garorock in France. The financial details of the deal, including price, were not disclosed.
CTS Eventim is the world’s second-largest provider of ticketing and live entertainment services, and acquiring the businesses could help it maintain an edge over rival Live Nation in its home market of Europe.
“The acquisition supports our internationalization strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale,” said CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement.
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Vivendi’s festival and ticketing businesses, housed under the subsidiary Vivendi Village, generated 137 million euros ($151.2 million) in 2023. See Tickets sold around 44 million tickets last year, generating 105 million euros ($115.8 million). It is the second-largest ticketing company in the United Kingdom and also operates in the United States and seven European nations.
The festival activities that CTS Eventim is set to acquire generated 32 million euros ($35.3 million) last year. Vivendi will retain its stake in the performance hall L’Olympia in Paris, See Tickets France and the Brive Festival.
“We at Vivendi are convinced that CTS Eventim will be the right company to bring our ticketing and festival activities to new heights, supporting See Tickets to remain a state-of-the-art company … while fostering the growth of the festivals and preserving their unique identities and audience,” said Hala Bavière, CEO of Vivendi Village, in a statement.
CTS Eventim is coming off a banner year. The Munich-based company’s revenue topped 2 billion euros for the first time ever in 2023, rising 22% to 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion at the average exchange rate in 2023). Normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was also up 32% to 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
The companies said they expect to finalize the deal within a few months, pending approval from each of their employee works councils.
CTS Eventim’s stock briefly hit a new 52-week high of 83.85 euros ($90.28) following the news on Tuesday before closing at 82.70 euros ($89.04), up 0.3%.
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