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Munich/Milan, 17 April 2018. CTS EVENTIM, one of the world’s leading providers of ticketing and live entertainment, has further enhanced its market position in Italy. The company is acquiring an interest in Vivo Concerti, a promoter of concerts and musicals. In the future, CTS EVENTIM will hold a controlling stake in Vivo Concerti through one of its local subsidiaries. The transaction includes other activities held by Vivo Concerti’s CEO, Clemente Zard, which will now be transferred to Vivo Concerti.
Over the past two years, Clemente Zard has led Vivo Concerti as its CEO, before recently buying the company from the previous owner, Warner Music Italy, in a management buy-out. Among the artists whose Italian tours Vivo Concerti has organised in recent years are international acts such as Evanescence, David Guetta, Demi Lovato, Tokio Hotel, Sam Smith, Brian Wilson and Hans Zimmer, as well as regional stars like Benji & Fede, Mannarino and Thegiornalisti.
In addition to his position as CEO of Vivo Concerti, Zard has also been active for many years as an independent promoter of concerts and musicals. Among the greatest successes he has celebrated in that time are shows like ‘Alegria by Cirque du Soleil’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and the musical ‘Notre Dame de Paris’, which he brought back to Italian stages after an absence of four years, to enormous public response. For some years now, Zard has also been working with international artists like Ian Anderson, Charles Aznavour, Alan Parsons and Spandau Ballet, and with local acts such as the pop/rap duo J-Ax & Fedez.
Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS EVENTIM, commented, ‘We are absolutely delighted at strengthening our position on the Italian market even further. The multi-faceted portfolio of Vivo Concerti complements our existing activities superbly. We also welcome Clemente Zard to the ranks of CTS EVENTIM – an outstanding promoter who has produced business success stories in recent years, not only as the CEO of Vivo Concerti, but also with his own undertakings.’
Clemente Zard, who will continue to hold shares in Vivo Concerti and who will manage the company’s operations from Milan, added, ‘Ever since I took over Vivo Concerti, I have wanted to work with an international partner. I am all the more delighted that, within a short time, we have found a global player in CTS EVENTIM, a company that is not only very familiar with our market segment, but which also shares our vision. Vivo Concerti will continue to bring a fantastic range of international and Italian artists together with their fans and put shows on the road that are as fresh and innovative as our company itself. At the same time, I would like to thank our former colleagues at Warner Music Italy, personally and on behalf of my team, for two fulfilling and formative years. During that period, we gained the self-confidence and experience to take the next step now in the development of Vivo Concerti. CTS EVENTIM is the perfect partner in that respect.’
About CTS EVENTIM
CTS EVENTIM is one of the leading international providers of ticketing services and live entertainment. In 2017, more than 250 million tickets were marketed using the company’s systems – through stationary box offices, online or mobile. Its online portals operate under brands such as eventim.de, oeticket.com, ticketcorner.ch, ticketone.it and entradas.com. The EVENTIM Group also includes many concert, tour and festival promoter companies for events like ‘Rock am Ring’, ‘Rock im Park’, ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Southside’. In addition, some of Europe’s most renowned venues are operated by CTS EVENTIM, for example the LANXESS arena in Cologne, the Waldbühne in Berlin and the EVENTIM Apollo in London. CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE 0005470306) has been listed on the stock exchange since 2000 and has been a member of the MDAX segment since 2015. In 2017, its 3,020-strong workforce generated more than one billion Euro in revenues in 23 countries.
About Vivo Concerti and Clemente Zard
Vivo Concerti was established in 2011 as a subsidiary of Warner Music Italy and since then has grown to become one of the country’s leading concert promoters. In recent years, the company has organised concerts and tours for internationally acclaimed artists of the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine, Franz Ferdinand and Sigur Ros, as well as for Italian acts such as Benji & Fede, Mannarino and Thegiornalisti. Clemente Zard joined Vivo Concerti as CEO in 2016, having celebrated successes of his own as a promoter. As the driving force behind Saludo Italia, he not only brought the ‘Romeo e Giulietta’ musical onto stages in his home country, but was also active as a concert promoter for international bands like the Alan Parsons Project, Spandau Ballet and Tokio Hotel. His greatest successes also include the musical ‘Notre Dame de Paris’, which attracted an audience of more than 700,000 in less than two years, or his work with the Italian pop/rap duo J-Ax & Fedez, which resulted in more than 30 sold-out shows in 2017 alone and a stadium show in 2018.
Vivo Concerti:
Press Office
Tel.: +39.02.3051.5020
press@vivoconcerti.com
