SFX Files For $175 Million IPO

Robert Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment is going public. The company has filed plans with the SEC to raise up to $175 million in an initial public offering.

Sillerman has been positioning SFX to rival Live Nation in the electronic dance music space, and pledged last year to invest about $1 billion in the genre and companies that stage EDM events.

He’s already made a number of purchases toward that goal, buying Dutch dance promoter ID&T, which runs the Tomorrowland festival, plus electronic download store Beatport and a string of Miami nightclubs.

But following recent news of Live Nation’s “creative partnership” with Insomniac, the race for the attention of EDM fans may be on.

SFX states in the SEC documents that it intends to use the IPO proceeds to help fund additional acquisitions and business development. Specifically, the company noted potential deals with companies including i-Motion GmbH Events, which produces Germany’s Nature One festival, Electric Zoo producer Made Event and Australia’s Totem Onelove Group that promote’s the country’s Stereosonic.

UBS Investment Bank, Barclays, and Jefferies will underwrite the deal.