Sziget sells 70 Percent To Equity Firms

London-based Edition Capital and U.S.-based Providence Equity have acquired 70 percent of Sziget, one of the largest festivals in Europe, which attracts some 500,000 people to Budapest, Hungary, each summer.

Szigetfestival 2014 – A street theatre group performs at Hungary’s Sziget festival, which broke attendance records this year Aug. 11-18 with Queens.

AP Photo / MTI, Balazs Mohai – Szigetfestival 2014 Pole People
A street theatre group performs at Hungary’s Sziget festival, which broke attendance records this year Aug. 11-18 with Queens of the Stone Age, The Prodigy, and Outkast among the headliners.

 “With the help of our new partners we will be able to make a giant leap forward and embark on the ambitious projects that have been in our pipeline for some time,” Sziget founder Karoly Gerendai said, without any disclosing financial details. “Providence’s network and financial resources will complement our existing management team’s expertise and will put us in an even stronger position to unlock significant new growth opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to us.”

The core team around Sziget encompasses about 60 people and also promotes Balaton Sound, Sziget and a couple of smaller festivals. “Sziget’s current management will retain a significant equity stake in the company and will continue to lead management of the company and operations of all festivals in the portfolio,” the announcement reads.

This means Gerendai, alongside the other owners of Sziget, will continue to lead the company’s operations, while Gábor Takács remains in charge of the international side of the business. Zoltán Fülöp and Norbert Lobenwein remain in charge of Telekom-sponsored Volt Festival and Balaton Sound, while also overseeing their music programming.

Newly on board are James Barton, founder of Creamfields Festival and former President of Electronic Music for Live Nation, and Paul Bedford, former financial director of Cream Group.

Barton said: “The Sziget team has done an incredible job in creating some of the world’s most exciting festivals and we look forward to partnering with Karoly and team in the company’s next phase of growth to accelerate Sziget’s domestic and international growth plans.”