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Munich, 22. September 2008. SDAX listed CTS EVENTIM AG (ISIN D0005470306) has successfully completed another acquisition. The board today signed agreements to take over the finish company Lippupiste OY („Lippupiste“) seated in Tampere. Founded in 2002, Lippupiste (in English: Ticket-Point) is one of the two leading providers of ticket distribution services in Finland. In 2007, more than 3 million tickets have been sold through Lippupiste via direct sales channels and in-house systems. Besides more than 400 promoters, theatres and concert halls, numerous Finish sport clubs and associations are among Lippupiste’s customers, including various ice hockey teams, the leading soccer club HJK Helsinki and the national associations for basketball, handball and volleyball.
For the current business year, Lippupiste is expecting revenues of more than 4 million Euros and an EBITDA around 900,000 Euros. Strong organic growth is planned for the near future, with one of the main drivers – like in Germany – being the migration of the traditional ticket business to higher margin internet sales. On top of that, from 2009 onwards EVENTIM will distribute the tickets from its exclusive co-operation with Live Nation, the world’s leading promoter, through Lippupiste and thus most probably make the company the market leader in Finland before the year’s end. In parallel, Lippupiste will introduce the proven state-of-the-art ticketing systems of EVENTIM into the Finish market and also take over technological leadership.
The majority of the shares in Lippupiste had so far been owned by Interavanti OYJ, a listed Finish corporation with a main business in real estate development. CTS EVENTIM AG has now taken over a 70% stake in Lippupiste OY and will acquire the remaining shares in 2012. The purchase price for the shares now acquired has been 5 million Euros, the closing of the transaction will occur at the end of September.
For CTS EVENTIM AG, who has recently also entered the Swedish market, the investment in Finland is another step of the Group’s European growth strategy. At the same time, the acquisition of Lippupiste creates an excellent basis for expansion into the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
