Eventim All Clear On See Tickets

The German federal cartel office is satisfied that CTS Eventim’s $183.5 million purchase of See Tickets Germany and Ticket Online Group didn’t break any monopolies regulations and has given the deal the go-ahead.

Both parties confirmed the deal in July, but a month later the cartel office (Bundeskartellamt) launched a retrospective inquiry into it.
It asked for detailed information on the deal to determine whether it should have been notified of it under the country’s merger control regulations.

Eventim said it had a team of specialist merger lawyers monitoring the transaction and concluded no notification was necessary due to the revenue and ownership situation when the transaction took place.

“We are confident that, after detailed examination of all the facts, the Federal Cartel Office will reach the same conclusion as we did,” Eventim chief exec Klaus-Peter Schulenberg said in a statement at the time.

In the fiscal year 2008-2009, See Tickets Germany and Ticket Online Group generated revenues worth $50.9 million. Pre-tax profit was $17.3 million.

Eventim chief financial officer Volker Bischoff said the cost savings and synergies created by the deal are worth a further $19 million.