HAMBURG (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — German ticketing giant CTS Eventim is looking to acquire as many as two market-leading companies this year with an eye towards consolidating the European market
"We want to continue to grow in Europe and that includes acquisitions," Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg told Bloomberg. "In five years we want to have grown beyond Europe’s borders."
CTs Eventim has made strides to expand its operations in Europe in recent years, largely through acquisitions including TicketOne in Italy and Lippupiste OY in Finland.
CTS Eventim had entered into a ten-year pact with Live Nation, who planned to license Eventim's ticketing software to launch their own in-house ticketing operation and provided for CTS Eventim to handle Live Nation's ticket sales in Europe. Live Nation has since announced that they intend to merge with CTS Eventim competitor Ticketmaster but have publicly stated that they intend to honor the terms of their agreement with CTS Eventim if the merger concludes successfully.
"Live Nation has repeatedly said it will completely meet the contract with CTS Eventim," Schulenberg told Bloomberg. "A possible merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation won’t have any impact on our business."
Details of how the CTS Eventim and Live Nation would continue to collaborate if Live Nation's merger with Ticketmaster completes have yet to be made clear and a recent 600 page proxy statement issued jointly by Ticketmaster and Live Nation scarcely acknowledged the CTS Eventim deal. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
