CTS Eventim has completed its acquisition of Vivendi’s festival and international ticketing businesses in a €300 million deal.
The agreement includes See Tickets and a portfolio of 11 festivals including the UK’s Love Supreme and Kite, as well as Garorock in France. Vivendi concert halls including L’Olympia concert hall in Paris, plus See Tickets France and Brive Festival, are not part of the deal.
The French firm’s ticketing and festival activities acquired by CTS collectively produced €137 million in revenues in 2023. The ticketing division generated roughly €105m of that, with an EBITDA of €26m.
The UK market was responsible for the largest share of the revenues, followed by the US, while the festival business generated an additional €32m in revenues. Vivendi bought See Tickets for €96m in 2011. The UK-headquartered ticketing company, which operates in nine countries worldwide, sold around 44 million tickets in 2023.
The companies say the transaction offers new development opportunities to Vivendi’s festival portfolio and See Tickets’ international activities, while ensuring maximum continuity for all their partners. Both See Tickets and the festival business will retain their existing identities and management.
A put option agreement was signed on 2 April.
“The acquisition supports our internationalisation strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale”
“With See Tickets and its festival operations, Vivendi has established two notable players in the ticketing and live entertainment sector,” said CTS CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg at the time. “I’d like to thank Vivendi for the productive negotiations, which have created a strong foundation for success in an industry enjoying robust growth across Europe.
“The acquisition supports our internationalisation strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale. We look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues on shaping the future of live entertainment.”
Pan-European giant CTS’ share price currently sits at €80.45 and is up 28% for the year to-date. The German-headquartered company was among several parties to register interest in buying See Tickets, along with AEG.
In its recently published financial results for Q1 2024, CTS posted consolidated revenue of €408.7m, up 11.6% year-on-year. Ticketing revenue climbed by 23.3% year-on-year to €182.8m, while adjusted EBITDA rose by 24.9% to €83.3m. It acquired Punto Ticket and Teleticket, market leaders in Chile and Peru, respectively, in late 2023.
CTS, which recently confirmed its 18th record year of revenue since its IPO in 2000, also recently secured ticketing deals for several international handball tournaments and was appointed official ticketing service provider for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics in partnership with AEG’s AXS.
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