Features
DEAG Acquires Fane Productions
– DEAG has acquired Fane via its UK subsidiary Kilimanjaro Live.
The company claims it has revolutionized the way virtual book events are delivered.
Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) announced the acquisition of literary events production company Fane Productions in the UK via its subsidiary Kilimanjaro Holdings Ltd.
Fane specialise in the production and curation of spoken word events, fitting into DEAG’s large portfolio of non-music events with strong ticket selling potential.
Founded in 2017, Fane today has offices in the UK and Australia. The company’s event lineup ranges from intimate virtual Q&As to UK-wide theatre tours and large-scale launches. It found a way to deliver virtual book events during the pandemic.
Before that, Fane hosted four years of sold-out live events for talent including Margaret Atwood, Malala Yousafzai, Grayson Perry, The Receipts Podcast and Dame Judi Dench.
Fane MD Alex Fane said he was “delighted to be partnering with DEAG and Kilimanjaro Live (…) after a year of exponential growth and our busiest autumn ever.”
Stuart Galbraith, CEO at Kilimanjaro Live, said, “Having known Alex for several years we are pleased to welcome Fane Productions into the Kili Group. We look forward to working with Alex for many years to come and expanding and growing the Fane family both in the UK and internationally.”
The UK is DEAG’s most important market outside of Germany. Recent UK endeavors include the acquisition of a majority stake in UK Live Ltd in June 2021 and a majority stake in UK ticketing vendor Gigantic Holdings Ltd in December 2019. That’s after having already acquired the promoter The Flying Music Group in 2017 and Belladrum Festival in Scotland in 2018.
Furthermore, Kilimanjaro acquired a stake in Collective Form Ltd. in early 2021. DEAG also strengthened its market position in the UK and Ireland in the fall of 2020 by founding the joint venture Singular Artists in Ireland.
DEAG founder Prof. Peter Schwenkow’s laid out his business philosophy, in a big interview he gave Pollstar around DEAG’s 40th anniversary in 2018.