CMS Advises CTS Eventim on Vivendi Acquisition
The publicly traded German concert promoter and ticketing company CTS Eventim, Europe’s known ticketing service provider and the world’s second-largest, has entered into an option agreement with French media conglomerate Vivendi, listed on the Paris stock exchange, regarding the acquisition of Vivendi’s international ticketing and festival businesses. This agreement grants Vivendi the right to sell all shares of the companies comprising its ticketing and festival activities to the German company.
Following this agreement, Vivendi will now initiate a consultation process with the relevant workers’ representative bodies to decide on the acceptance of the sale option, leading to the finalization of the transaction. Vivendi’s ticketing business includes See Tickets, the second-largest ticketing company in England, as well as the Spanish company SEE Entradas and other entities across Europe and the United States. Together, these entities sold approximately 44 million tickets in the fiscal year 2023. Notably, the transaction excludes the shares of Vivendi’s French ticketing company, See Tickets SAS.
Additionally, Vivendi’s festival business encompasses companies in England and France that organize festivals such as Junction 2 and Garorock. See Tickets, headquartered in the UK and operating in nine countries, along with a festival portfolio featuring events like Love Supreme and Garorock, represents a strategic move for CTS Eventim to expand its global presence in the live entertainment sector.
CMS provided comprehensive legal counsel to CTS Eventim throughout the transaction, leveraging a multi-jurisdictional team of lawyers from offices in Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Spain. In Spain, CMS’s role was led by Luis Miguel de Dios (pictured left) and Jorge Peris (pictured right), Partner and Senior Associate in the Corporate/M&A practice. They were supported by a team including Juan Moreno and Ana Doval from the Public Law and Regulated Sectors practice; Borja Vázquez and Rodrigo Urosa Fernández from Banking & Finance; Ricardo Gómez-Barreda, Lucía Signes, and Alba Blanco from IP and Digital Business; María José Ramos from Employment; and Marián Moya, Luis Durbán Revilla, and Álvaro González Giménez from Real Estate.
