- Superstruct owns and operates over 80 music festivals across Europe and Australia
- The company was established in 2017 by Providence
- Providence has an option to invest €250m into Superstruct
UPDATED. KKR will acquire Superstruct Entertainment, a European live entertainment group, from Providence Equity Partners. The transaction is valued at €1.3 billion, according to a source close to the matter.
Superstruct owns and operates over 80 music festivals across Europe and Australia. Its portfolio includes some of Europe’s most popular festivals and live event formats, among them Flow, Arenal Sound, Zwarte Cross, elrow, Victorious, Resurrection Fest and Lost Village.
The company was established in 2017 by Providence. Since then, it has grown organically and through acquisitions into one of the world’s largest live entertainment groups, according to a release.
Providence has an option to invest €250 million into Superstruct as part of the transaction.
Demand for live entertainment has grown significantly over the past decade and is expected to continue to expand, as consumer spending continues to shift from goods towards experience, the release said.
“With a robust foundation as a top-tier live entertainment platform, we see significant growth opportunities ahead for Superstruct,” said Philipp Freise, partner and co-head of European private equity and Franziska Kayser, partner at KKR, in a statement. “Drawing on our strong partnership approach and experience in the digital entertainment and ticketing space, such as BMG, ProSiebenSat1, GetYourGuide and Trainline, as well as KKR’s global resources and extensive network, we will support the company and its entrepreneurial team to bring their compelling portfolio of live event formats to a wider audience and drive further growth.”
KKR is making the investment via its European Fund VI, an $8 billion fund and is the fourth investment via the fund. Recent investments from the fund include FGS Global, OHB and Nexeye.
KKR is a global investment firm.
Providence is a private equity investment firm focused on growth-oriented media, communications, education and technology companies across North America and Europe. It is based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis as legal advisor to KKR. Providence is being advised by HSBC and LionTree as joint financial advisors, and White & Case as legal advisor.
Editor’s note: The article was updated to include the deal price.