Ivankovic Comes Up Short

Apart from causing Live Nation a hassle in the Balkans, Croatian promoter Vlado Ivankovic appears to have shorted German ticketing giant CTS Eventim as much as euro 100,000 ($139,000).

When LN discovered Ivankovic’s company – of which it owned 25 percent – was in deep financial trouble, it moved Peter Gabriel‘s Oct. 5 show at Zagreb Arena across the border to Serbia’s Belgrade Arena.

While LN said Zagreb tickets could be used for the Belgrade show and ticketholders will also “receive a small gift for making the [250-mile] journey,” Ivankovic immediately offered full refunds for the Croatian event.

Andy Egger, who runs Eventim’s Balkan business, confirmed Ivankovic was “between euro 50,000 and euro 100,000” short when it came to covering the refunds. Ivankovic has subsequently vanished.

LN bought into Adria in 2012. Lupa – another company belonging to Ivankovic – reportedly had outstanding tax debts of about $3.4 million.

Ivankovic changed the company name from Lupa to Adria just before selling a quarter of it to LN. Former LN Central & Eastern Europe chief Tim Dowdall was recently replaced by Steve Todd from the company’s Polish office.