Features
DEAG Acquires Indian Spirit
Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) is expanding its fetival business by acquiring a majority stake in the psytrance and goa festival Indian Spirit, which has been held in Eldena, near Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, since 1999.
With a daily capacity of 20,000, Indian Spirit is one of the biggest Psytrance festivals in Europe. Aside from a line-up with the best DJs in the scene, the festival offering includes yoga, workshops, chill-out areas, and a market for culinary delights, clothing and jewellery.
As part of the acquisition, myticket, DEAG’s own ticketing platform, MyTicket, has already launched the exclusive pre-sale for the 2023 edition.
Festival founder Rolf Eggert of Music Eggert will continue to run of Indian Spirit as a shareholder in the long term together with his team around managing director Sebastian Eggert. Sebastian Eggert is also MD of Airbeat One, the festival acquired by DEAG in July.
“DEAG expects to gain synergy effects in the live entertainment business, both in terms of purchasing and artist acquisition” from the acquisition of Indian Spirit, according to the press release.
DEAG event portfolio now encompasses more than 30 multi-day and one-day festivals attracting more than than 580,000 visitors in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and Ireland. It includes the electronic festivals Nature One, Mayday, Ruhr-in-Love, and Airbeat One (Germany), as well as the open-air events Sion sous les étoiles (Switzerland) and Belladrum Tartan Heart (Scotland).
“Indian Spirit is an excellent addition to our current range of music festivals. We have a strong international position and a well-balanced portfolio, which we are continuously expanding in a rapidly growing market. Indian Spirit will provide further impetus for our growth and drive our expansion. We are very much looking forward to working with Sebastian Eggert and his team in greater depth,” commented DEAG CEO Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow.
See: DEAG Reports ‘Excellent First Half Of 2022’
In the press release announcing the acquisition of Indian Spirit, DEAG also states that the capital market environment “is becoming increasingly difficult to assess.” DEAG is therefore examining “various options for refinancing the 2018/2023 bond at an early point in time, and has mandated IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG with examining the option of issuing a new unsecured bond. A possible new bond could be used for the early refinancing of the 2018/2023 bond, while sufficient liquidity is already available for the foreseeable growth due to the outstanding development of business.”