Mergers & Acquisitions

Gadget acquires majority stake in Stars in Town

Featured Image: Laura Stanley

Gadget abc Entertainment Group has taken a majority stake in Stars in Town, a festival in Schaffhausen, northern Switzerland.

After working with Zurich-headquartered Gadget abc for a number of years, Stars in Town will benefit from a new network while maintaining its own identity. The event will continue to be run from Schaffhausen by the same team, led by festival director Adrian Brugger, who has also maintained a minority stake.

Stars in Town attracts roughly 60,000 visitors each year across two weekends, and festival organisers have placed additional focus on more than just music, with food stands, light installations, street art and more.

“With the integration of Stars in Town, one of the highest-quality festivals in Switzerland, into the Gadget Group, the common history that began a long time ago will be expanded by a next chapter,” said Christof Huber, director of festivals and events at Gadget.

Huber has been jointly responsible for the booking of Stars in Town, and has featured on the board of directors since 2015.

The re-configured board of directors for Stars in Town consists of Brugger, alongside Huber, Gadgets’s Cyrill Stadler, and CTS Eventim’s Ferdinand Krämer.

Previous board members Urs Peter Naef, Markus Höfler and Bernhard Klauser, along with Alex Blunschi, will continue to support the festival as part of an advisory board.

This year’s edition of Stars in Town will take place between August 2-10, and will feature a line-up including Placebo, Passenger, Status Quo and Tom Odell.