CTS Pulls Off Italian Job

CTS Eventim has acquired another slice of the European market by shelling out euro 14 million for Italy’s premier ticketing agency and securing an option to buy the rest of the company.

"TicketOne has an exceptional market position in Italy and is as popular there as CTS Eventim is in Germany," CTS chief Klaus-Peter Schulenberg said in a May 21st statement. He said he’s confident the company’s operating figures can be improved "within a relatively short period of time."

The Milan-based company is already Italy’s market leader, selling 13 million tickets in 2006 and returning a euro 2.2 million profit from a euro 16.4 million turnover.

It owns 60 percent of TOST and all of Panischi, which are Italy’s major ticket suppliers for theatre shows and major events respectively.

Antonello Manuli Finanziaria (AMFIN), an Italian financial holding with numerous investments in real estate, media and financial products, had owned 86 percent of TicketOne.

Schulenberg will look to improve the margins by introducing the German company’s high-profit Internet sales systems to run alongside the more traditional ticket selling methods.

For CTS, the Italian investment represents a logical extension of the group’s European growth strategy, in which CTS has made acquisitions in Russia and Switzerland during the last six months.