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Private equity group KKR has agreed to buy the company behind European music festivals such as Hungary’s Sziget and Germany’s Wacken Open Air for €1.3bn, in a bet that appetite for live events will grow.
The US buyout firm will take control of UK-based Superstruct Entertainment, whose festivals draw 7mn people a year, according to a joint statement on Friday that confirmed an earlier Financial Times report.
While the two sides did not disclose financial terms, the deal valued the group at around €1.3bn, according to people familiar with the matter.
Superstruct is home to more than 80 festivals across 10 countries, including the likes of Cornwall’s Boardmasters and Denmark’s Tinderbox. Plunged into crisis by the coronavirus pandemic, the live events industry has since enjoyed a resurgence.
KKR is acquiring the business from rival buyout firm Providence Equity Partners. While some of the festivals KKR is buying date back decades, Providence established Superstruct in 2017 as a vehicle to acquire more.
Providence has an option to invest €250mn into Superstruct even after ceding ownership.
James Barton, a former executive at Live Nation, helped found Superstruct and is chair of the group.
“This is a unique platform in Europe,” said one person familiar with the deal, adding that Superstruct had scope to acquire more festivals.
New York-based KKR has previously invested across Europe, including in music group BMG, German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, UK ticketing app Trainline and public relations firm FGS Global.
The investment group believes there are “significant growth opportunities” for Superstruct, KKR’s co-head of European private equity Philipp Freise said in the statement.
The sale of Superstruct is one of the larger buyout deals in Europe this year, adding to a tentative recovery in dealmaking after higher interest rates had made executing transactions harder.
The value of PE deals globally in the first five months of the year hit $286bn globally, an increase of more than 30 per cent on the same period last year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.
KKR and Providence declined to comment beyond the statement.
