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2019 in Review: October

US investment vehicle Silver Lake struck a deal to acquire Australia-headquartered TEG, the owner of Ticketek and UK-based MJR Group.

Under the agreement, TEG’s senior management team, led by chief executive Geoff Jones (pictured), will continue to lead the company and remain meaningful equity partners in the new ownership structure.

Silver Lake’s other investments include Alibaba Group, Dell Technologies, WME’s parent company Endeavor and the Madison Square Garden Company.

TEG operates as the exclusive ticketing provider for more than 135 venue and promoter clients and delivers 30 million tickets annually for over 30,000 events spanning live sports, concerts, theatre, festivals and exhibitions across more than 13 countries.

In other M&A news, CTS Eventim entered the Russian live entertainment market through its acquisition of the country’s leading tour and concert promoter, Talent Concert International.

The German ticketing company snapped up 51 per cent of TCI, bringing the Russian company into the promoter network Eventim Live.

TCI has organised live performances by Blur, Nick Cave, Deep Purple, Kraftwerk, and Limp Bizkit, Jennifer Lopez, Rammstein and Whitesnake since it was founded in the mid-1990s.

Universal Studios in Beijing announced plans to install facial recognition technology to enable ticketless entry to the under-construction amusement park.

The technology is part of a host of services owned by Chinese internet giant Alibaba that will be integrated into the park.

The biometric technology is linked to Alibaba’s Alipay electronic payment platform that will also allow visitors to open storage lockers, pay for meals and join express queues for rides. The Alipay app is widely used in China alongside rival WeChat Pay as an alternative to cash.

Global marketing giant Dentsu secured the rights to ticketing and other commercial properties in relation to the next three editions of the Copa America, South America’s premier national team football tournament.

The eight-year deal with Conmebol, South American football’s governing body, covers the tournaments in 2020, 2024 and 2028. It includes the acquisition of all global commercial rights, including sponsorship, broadcasting, licensing, gaming, ticketing and hospitality.

The deal is an extension after the Japanese group worked on the 2019 Copa America tournament in Brazil after replacing the MP & Silva agency, which collapsed in 2018.

Click here to see the November 2019 review and here to see the September 2019 review.

Image: TEG

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