CTS Eventim wins race to acquire See Tickets

CTS Eventim is set to acquire See Tickets and a portfolio of festivals from the French-headquartered media group Vivendi.

The German live entertainment behemoth was among several parties to register interest in buying See Tickets, along with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG).

However, CTS today announced it has signed a put option agreement on Vivendi’s festival and international ticketing activities, which form part of its Vivendi Village subsidiary.

The transaction is expected to be complete in the coming months and both See Tickets and the festival business will retain their existing identities and management.

While the price of the acquisition was not revealed, the Financial Times reported that Vivendi was seeking up to £300 million (€351m) for See Tickets, which the French firm bought for €96m in 2011.

The UK-headquartered ticketing company, which operates in nine countries worldwide, sold around 44 million tickets in 2023.

Also included in the CTS deal is Vivendi’s festival arm, which includes 11 events such as the UK’s Love Supreme and Kite, and Garorock in France.

The ticketing and festival activities that CTS Eventim is set to acquire from Vivendi collectively produced €137 million in revenues in 2023.

“CTS Eventim will be the right company to bring our ticketing and festival activities to new heights”

The ticketing business generated roughly €105 million of that, with the UK market responsible for the largest share, followed by its US market. The festival business that is part of the current deal generated an additional €32 million.

Vivendi’s performance hall activities, including L’Olympia in Paris, as well as See Tickets France and Brive Festival, are not part of the agreement.

“With See Tickets and its festival operations, Vivendi has established two notable players in the ticketing and live entertainment sector,” says Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO, CTS Eventim.

“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.”

Hala Bavière, CEO of Vivendi Village and member of the Executive Committee of Vivendi: “I am proud of what has been accomplished over more than a decade and extremely grateful for the strong dedication of all the teams involved. 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 in services and technology, while fostering the growth of the festivals and preserving their unique identities and audience.”

CTS Eventim recently confirmed its 18th record year of revenue since its IPO in 2000. The pan-European ticketing and live entertainment giant’s annual revenue was up 22% in 2023, surpassing €2 billion for the first time to reach €2.359bn, while normalised EBITDA increased at 32% to reach €501.4 million.

Meanwhile, the firm’s share price has increased by 11.20% in the past five days, reaching an all-time high of €83.60 this morning.

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