All Things Live buys Norwegian promoter HES

All Things Live has acquired one of the largest independent festival organisers in Norway, HES.

Founded in 2010, the Oslo-based company is a full-service provider of festival organisation and operations.

HES’s 13-strong team is involved in festivals including Verket, Drøbakfestivalen, Hvalstrandfestivalen, Sarpsborgfestivalen, Lillehammer Live and Haikjeften, as well as music venue Verket Scene.

The acquisition sees All Things Live’s footprint in Norway expand to cover booking, promotion, events, comedy and festival activities via subsidiaries Stageway, Komon Stageway, Latter and Stand Up Norge.

“The HES team has built a strong business with clear growth prospects on the back of proven capabilities within festival organisation and operations,” says Gry Mølleskog, CEO of All Things Live Group.

“Since 2010, the team has established several successful festivals entertaining thousands of people every year, and we are pleased to welcome HES as part of All Things Live in Norway with a view to developing the business and accelerating the positive developments in the years ahead.”

“The HES team has built a strong business with clear growth prospects”

The management team – consisting of CEO Hans Petter Haaland and head of market Erle Strøm – and the organisation of HES remain unchanged, and existing contracts and customer relationships are not affected by the transaction. The current owners of HES become partners and co-owners of All Things Live.

“We are thrilled to team up with All Things Live and look forward to collaborating closely with a leading and respected European live entertainment player to build on our successes in Norway and create even greater live experiences for our audiences together,” says Hans Petter Haaland, CEO of HES.

“For more than a decade, we have organized and run more than 50 festivals and promoted many of Scandinavia’s best artists, and we will continue to do so with an even stronger organization as part of the All Things Live partnership.”

In the last 12 months, the All Things Live group has acquired Agents After All (the Netherlands), Musickness (Belgium), Radar Concerti (Italy) and Amaze Festival (Sweden).

Since the Nordic group was founded by Waterland Private Equity in 2018, it has expanded to seven European countries and 19 companies, with offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Brussels, Milan and Amsterdam.

The company’s portfolio ranges from musical productions to music festivals and standup events to stadium concerts, with The Rolling Stones, Eminem, Katy Perry and Rammstein among its clients.

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