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Live Music

Kilimanjaro Live group acquires ShowPlanr

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Kilimanjaro Live's parent company is acquiring a majority stake in the UK promoter and live event organiser ShowPlanr.

DEAG, which owns KMJ Entertainment, said the acquisition will result in synergy effects in the ticketing and live entertainment business, in particular through co-operation with other subsidiaries in the UK. ShowPlanr organises more than 600 events annually such as tours, concerts and theatre performances.

The transaction is to be completed through DEAG’s subsidiary Flying Music, which is wholly owned by KMJ.

ShowPlanr founder and managing director of ShowPlanr Chris Jenkins will remain a shareholder and continue to run the company with his team in the long term.

Stuart Galbraith, CEO of KMJ, said: “ShowPlanr has firmly established itself in the UK entertainment market in recent years. We have worked closely and trustfully with ShowPlanr on a number of occasions through our UK sister companies in the DEAG family.

“We look forward to developing new formats and opening up new locations together in the future, as well as continuing to offer visitors first-class entertainment.”

ShowPlanr’s strong market position

ShowPlanr was founded in 2010 and has developed into one of the leading independent event organisers in the UK. The company’s events generate sales of around 250,000 tickets per year. Recent projects include Waterloo – A Tribute to Abba, The Rat Pack Live in Concert and concerts with the London Symphonic Rock Orchestra.

In the future, users will also be able to buy tickets for events directly from DEAG’s own ticketing platforms myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com and tickets.ie on the ShowPlanr company website.

Jenkins said: “We will be organising more events than ever before in 2024. We are delighted to become part of the DEAG family and look forward to further dynamising our growth with strong partners from the group. We want to position our events and artists even more broadly internationally and thus further strengthen our strong market position.”

In February 2024 it was announced that Kilimanjaro Live and its 16 brands would operate under a new umbrella company, KMJ Entertainment. Owned by Germany’s DEAG, KMJ’s businesses will continue to “deliver a wide range of events, promoting and producing music tours, in-conversation shows, theatrical productions, comedy and family attractions”.