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DEAG Acquires Airbeat One Festival Germany
German live entertainment company DEAG announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Airbeat One festival, which just celebrated a successful return in Neustadt-Glewem, Germany, July 6-10 after being forced to call off the last two years because of the pandemic.
From an audience of 20,000 visitors at the pre-opening to 65,000, who attended Sunday’s closing night, more than 200,000 fans were in attendance over the four days, traveling from more than 50 countries around the world for the 19th edition of Airbeat One. More than 300 DJs shared a total of six stages.
DEAG strengthens its rock/pop segment and significantly expands its business activities in the field of festivals with this acquisition, and according to the press release announcing it, this purchase won’t be DEAG’s last in the festival business.
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“In the future, the company plans to continue to play an active role in the consolidation of the live entertainment industry in Europe and to drive its growth through M&A,” according to the press release.
Airbeat One was held for the first time in 2002 and is now the largest electronic music festival in northern Germany, and one of the largest in Germany, attracting around 60,000 visitors per day annually.
Sebastian Eggert from festival founder Music Eggert becomes managing director of Airbeat One GmbH, the new name of the Airbeat One promoting company. Eggert and his team will remain on board in the long term.
DEAG Group also owns I-Motion, the organizer of the electric music festivals Nature One, Mayday, Syndicate, Toxicator, and Ruhr-in-Love. By acquiring Airbeat One, DEAG expects synergy effects bringing down costs, particularly in, but not limited to, the field of artist acquisition, as well as boost in ticket sales through DEAG’s own myticket.de channels.
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Oliver Vordemvenne, managing director of I-Motion, commented, “We are all delighted about the partnership and the cooperation with Sebastian and the whole team, who have built up one of the biggest electro music festivals in Germany and inspire thousands of fans from all over the world every year. Airbeat One is an excellent addition to DEAG’s portfolio.
“With Airbeat One, we unite two of the most successful electro music festivals in Germany under one roof and are excellently positioned in this field with now a total of six electro music festivals with over 200,000 visitors annually. With the acquisition of Airbeat One, we have also created very good conditions for the further expansion of our business activities.”
Sebastian Eggert, managing director of Airbeat One, addedd, “We are all very pleased to have DEAG as a strong partner for the further development of Airbeat One. We share the same vision for the festival with a clear focus on the visitors and want to continue to offer them an exceptional customer experience in the future. We are strongly rooted in the region of Northern Germany and will stay here for the long term and drive our growth together with DEAG.”