Live Nation Acquires Latin American Powerhouse OCESA, Ticketmaster Mexico Included

– Ocesa

Live Nation will acquire a controlling interest in OCESA Entretenimiento, the Latin American concert promotion powerhouse and owner of Ticketmaster Mexico, from parent companies CIE and Grupo Televisa, the largest multimedia company in the Spanish-speaking world, the companies announced today (July 24).

OCESA/CIE was 2018’s fifth-largest concert promoter worldwide, with ticket sales of 3,818,081 tickets reported to Pollstar and, according to Live Nation, promotes more than 3,100 events annually for nearly 6 million people across Mexico and Colombia. OCESA also does robust business in ticketing, sponsorship, food & beverage, merchandise and venue operations with 14 top venues across Mexico, good for nearly 250,000 seats.

2018 Year End Worldwide Top 100 Promoters

The deal brings Ticketmaster Mexico into the Live Nation/Ticketmaster fold. TM Mexico is that country’s largest ticketer with more than 37 million tickets sold annually.

As part of the transaction, Live Nation will also acquire an interest in Ocesa Seitrack, OCESA’s booking and artist management joint venture; CREA, one of Mexico’s special and corporate event specialists; and Centro Citibanamex, an exhibition and convention center in Mexico City.

The Mexican concert market is a sizeable one: Mexico City stadium Foro Sol topped the 2018 Top 100 Outdoor/Stadium Venues chart with 887,802 tickets; its Auditorio Nacional topped Top 200 Theatre Venues chart with 1.325 million,

2018 Year End Worldwide Top 100 Promoters

2018 Year End Worldwide Top 100 Theatre Venues

OCESA Seitrack’s agency side represents such artists as Timbiriche, which averages 11,027 tickets sold per show for an average of $789,912; Fobia (10,933 tickets, $272,508 gross); DLD (9,620, $248,725); Miguel Bosé (5,165, $340,289); Morat (7,439, $241,039); Rio Roma (5,650, $89,292); and Zoé (6,355, $228,380) among others. The agency also represents Sebastian Yatra, who debuted on Pollstar‘s LIVE75 chart for the week of July 22 at No. 17, with an average 7,624 tickets sold and $272,900 gross.

The deal solidifies Live Nation’s presence in Latin America, following the acquisition of Argentina-based DF Concerts in January.

But the concert promotion giant has been making other global moves in recent months as well, including Switzerland promoter Mainland Music in December, Singapore’s ONE Production in January and Canada’s Embrace Presents in February, and Polish promoter Go Ahead in June.

In terms of festivals, Live Nation has also added UK event Camp Bestival and added Lollapalooza Stockholm in Sweden to its international portfolio this year.

The OCESA acquisition obviously furthers Live Nation’s goal of building out its global live entertainment platform, allowing the company to “better service artists who now travel the world to play to their expanding global fan bas,” according to a Live Nation statement.

“OCESA has been Live Nation’s touring, festival, and ticketing partner in Mexico for years, and I admire the business Alex has built,” said Michael Rapino, President and CEO, Live Nation Entertainment. “This next step is a logical extension for both our teams, and we look forward to working on many more shows together.”

“We are extremely proud to join Live Nation,” said Alejandro Soberón Kuri, President and CEO of CIE. “This evolution of our long-standing relationship with Live Nation gives us a unique opportunity to continue OCESA´s 30-year contribution to the development of the Mexican live entertainment industry. In addition, this will further foster CIE´s commitment to the promotion of Mexican artistic talent abroad.”

Soberón Kuri will serve as CEO and sit on the board of the newly-formed joint venture. Rapino will become Chairman of the venture’s board of directors.

The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of Live Nation, CIE, and Televisa. The consummation of the transactions is subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities and other customary closing conditions. Live Nation anticipates that the transactions will close by the end of 2019. LionTree Advisors is serving as financial advisor to Live Nation in connection with the transaction.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the transaction will likely be a topic of discussion during Live Nation’s second-quarter earnings call that takes place Thursday after market close.