Eventim Plays Down Antitrust Probe

Reuters and the UK’s Financial Times reported that regulators were looking into “a number” of Eventim’s business dealings for “suspected anti-competitive practices.”

Stefan Wimmer, a business analyst at Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt, told the FT: “What could now happen is that demerger proceedings are instituted by the cartel office.

“They are ticket sellers, but they also have their own live entertainment business where they have stakes in relatively big concert promoters. This concentration of power could be found to be too high.”

Eventim, which is a majority shareholder in Germany’s Medusa Group of promoters, which includes Marek Lieberberg, Folkert Koopmans, Peter Rieger and Dieter Semmelman, says the inquiry “does not come as a surprise” to the company and puts it down to the German regulator (Federal Cartel Office) taking a closer look at a lot of companies working online platforms.

The Bremen-based ticket firm, arguably Europe’s largest, points out that FCO president Andreas Mundt has been quoted as saying: “It is a continuous job for the cartel authorities to question the position of the big companies.” Eventim chief Klaus-Peter Schulenberg says “it’s common knowledge that we have a very good market position in Germany. “We are technology and innovation leaders and, therefore, often succeed against our competitors – which is the very essence of free and fair competition. We do not use unfair methods,” he said in a statement.

“CTS Eventim is convinced that is has obeyed the legal framework in every respect and has answered all questions in full and on time.”

In 2013 Eventim had net income of $69 million on revenues of around $711 million, handling more than 100 million tickets. The reporting of the FCO investigation initially knocked about 17 percent of its share price, which has since stabilised at around $30.92.