Aussie live music sector “not surprised” by planned TEG sale

Members of the Australian live music industry said they were not surprised at news that Affinity Equity Partners is planning to sell ticket and live entertainment company TEG.

The news was broken yesterday by the Australian Financial Review that Affinity had engaged America’s Goldman Sachs to handle the sales process of TEG by the end of this year.

Many told TMN that this would have been the Hong Kong-based Affinity’s long-term strategy from the start.

“That’s what investment companies do,” said one promoter under condition of anonymity.

“They buy a company, they build it up to make it look valuable and glamorous, and then they sell it within five years. They then move on, that’s the way their game is played.”

In fact, in October 2016, there were reports in the Asian financial media that two Chinese conglomerates Wanda Group (which bought Australia’s Hoyts in 2015 for $1 billon) and Fosun had expressed interest in acquiring TEG.

So did German ticketing and events firm CTS Eventim, Europe’s largest ticketing agency which sells 100 million tickets to 200,000 events a year in 26 countries.

But Affinity – which has assets of $3.6 billion and lists 30 companies in its portfolio – was not ready then, probably figuring it could get larger bids if it added more divisions and services.

The Sydney-based TEG is one of its entertainment entities. Another is Korean complex multi-facet Loen Entertainment (formerly Seoul Records).

TEG was bought by Affinity for $640 million when it was known as Nine Lives, as the Nine Network’s live events offshoot.

Since then, under its CEO Geoff Jones, it has doubled its size, acquiring the Dainty Group, the family entertainment group Life Like Touring and, in July, the Sydney-based festival and touring Division Agency,

TEG’s strategy reflected moves in the west, where music companies are integrating ticketing and data collection to provide a greater focus on where to perform. They are also working with streaming services, with their multi-millions subscribers, to provide more data.

TEG Analytics would be certainly a draw to global companies, as well as Ticketek’s database of 12 million users, and servicing 20,000 events a year with 23 million tickets.

Other TEG assets include TEG Live (which covers sponsorship and event management and sold over 2 million tickets).Softix software, DIY ticketing platform Eventopia and Sydney’s Qudos Arena.

The Australian Financial Review’s list of possible suitors included eBay, Telstra, Amazon and Eventim.

The general belief in the Australian live music sector is that TEG CEO Geoff Jones and TEG Dainty President & CEO Paul Dainty will keep their positions with the new owner.