European live events company DEAG Deutsche Entertainment is continuing its expansion with the acquisition of Italy’s MC² Live.
Under the terms of the deal, DEAG subsidiary DEAG Concerts GmbH will acquire all shares in MC² Live, and the Milan-headquartered company will continue to be run by its founders, Andrea and Stefano Pieroni.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed.
Over the past few decades, MC² Live has organized numerous events in Italy, including concerts and festivals featuring international music stars like Judas Priest, Slipknot, Rammstein, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Eros Ramazzotti, and Negrita.
DEAG says the acquisition will enable it to expand its presence in Italy and “create synergies” in the live music business, as well as in ticketing and development of new entertainment formats in the longer run.
“Following this year’s transactions with Showplanr, How to Academy, District Live and Sputnik/Black Mamba, the acquisition of MC² Live and the partnership with Andrea is a further step in our international expansion strategy,” DEAG Group CEO Detlef Kornett said in a statement.
“We are expanding our presence in Europe to include another national market. This is in line with our plan to expand and deepen DEAG’s international network of promoters. By 2025, MC² Live will have already organized quite a few concerts, with acts including Pantera, Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson. We will continue to expand MC² Live’s good market position by offering high-quality content and position the company even more prominently and internationally.”
“The acquisition of MC² Live and the partnership with Andrea is a further step in our international expansion strategy.”
Detlef Kornett, DEAG
MC² Live founder Andrea Pieroni added: “With DEAG, we have a strong partner at our side with whom we can make our presence even more international and further develop DEAG’s European network. I am convinced that we will benefit from each other in the long term and I am very much looking forward to working together.”
Founded in Berlin in 1978, DEAG has built a business encompassing events in rock/pop, including urban and EDM, classics and jazz, family entertainment, spoken word and literary events, arts and exhibitions, and ticketing and entertainment services.
The company operates out of 24 locations in its key markets of Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, and Italy. It says it sells some 10 million tickets annually, increasingly through its own ticketing companies, Myticket, which DEAG fully acquired in 2019, as well as through its gigantic.com and tickets.ie.platforms.
DEAG’s acquisitions in recent years have included majority stakes in Germany-headquartered promoter C2 Concerts, Swiss firms Live Music Production and Live Music Entertainment, and the German arm of US-based electronic music giant LiveStyle. It also acquired 90% of British promoter and event organizer UK Live Ltd.
The company also fully acquired Swiss classical music promoter The Classical Company AG.
“With DEAG, we have a strong partner at our side with whom we can make our presence even more international and further develop DEAG’s European network.”
Andrea Pieroni, MC² Live
DEAG was listed on the Frankfurt exchange from 1998 until 2021, when it was delisted after Apeiron Investment Group took a significant stake in the company.
In January, the company said it planned to relist on the Frankfurt exchange, but announced the following month that it was delaying the move to a “later date.”
DEAG’s revenue recovered from the pandemic slump in live music by 2022, and in H1 2024, it reported an 8.2% YoY increase in revenue, to EUR Є133 million, “despite a weak overall economic environment in Europe, a serious market shakeout in the festival and open-air sector, weather-related event restrictions and significant investments in DEAG’s corporate structures and further growth.”
The company reported EBITDA of Є3.1 million.Music Business Worldwide
