Hungarian festival company Sziget sells 70% stake to Providence Equity
Reuters - 13/01/17
U.S.-based private equity firm Providence Equity Partners has bought a majority stake in Hungarian festival company Sziget, the companies said in a joint statement on Friday, aiming to expand the events internationally.
Sziget draws about 500,000 people every year to its flagship event in Budapest and hundreds of thousands more to half a dozen other festivals around Hungary. Now in its 25th season, it has received several "best festival" titles from the European Festival Awards.
The website of the local edition of Forbes Magazine said Rhode Island's Providence - which has total assets of about $47 billion under management - bought a 70 percent stake in Sziget. [...]
The new investors will help "further the development of the Sziget festivals and support Sziget's ambition to take its festival brands global", the statement said. [...]
The current management will retain management rights and operational control of the festivals of the Sziget brand.
The team will be supported by several international festival promoters such as James Barton, former President of Electronic Music for Live Nation and founder of Creamfields Festival.