BUDAPEST (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The organization behind the popular Hungarian festival Sziget, Sziget Kulturális Menedzser Iroda Kft, has been sold to a media conglomerate Eco
net for approximately 25 million dollars. Despite the ownership change, the week-long festival will still be overseen by Sziget's Károly Gerendai and Gábor Takács.
According to Portfolio.hu, Sziget made the buyout jump to ensure that they could remain competitive in an increasingly fierce European festival market.
Sziget Kft. wants to face the challenges early, but in order to do that it needed a partner with a strong capital base, which furthermore has an existing media portfolio that is another enhancement to Sziget's competition position," Gerendai told Portfolio
"Obviously, one could imagine a partner with a bigger capital base, but this company has a great advantage over Sziget Kft, namely that it is listed on the stock exchange, which means it can conjure up capital relatively swiftly and easily via share issuance. This is a status we could have sealed for ourselves only if we float Sziget on the bourse, but selling it to econet.hu seemed to be a simpler solution. Moreover, the company made such a decent bid that it would have been a folly to turn down." he added.
The infusion of capital will also fuel expansion. The Portfolio report also included the tantalizing tidbit that Sziget is looking at staging a festival in
Targu Mures, Romani to be called the Peninsula Festival, as well as looking at other expansion opportunities in these rapidly developing markets. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
