Affinity sells Australia ticketing business to Silver Lake
Affinity Equity Partners has agreed its second Australia exit in three weeks, with Silver Lake set to assume control of ticketing business TEG. It follows a deal to sell a 35% stake in Virgin Australia’s frequent flyer business back to the parent company.
The size of the TEG transaction was not disclosed, but local media put it at nearly A$1.3 billion ($880 million). Affinity carved out the asset from Nine Entertainment in 2015 for an enterprise valuation of A$640 million. TEG’s senior management team will continue to lead the company under Silver Lake and remain minority equity partners in the new ownership structure.
TEG – operating under the Ticketek brand – is the exclusive ticketing provider for over 135 venue and promoter clients, delivering 30 million tickets annually for over 30,000 events spanning live sports, concerts, theater, festivals, and exhibitions across 13 countries. It claims to have a database of 16 million members, a retail network comprising more than 60 agencies, and an app that has been downloaded 1.7 million times.
The company also offers event promotion, venue management, data analytics and marketing services. It has promoted the likes of Hugh Jackman, Guns N' Roses, Eminem, Katy Perry, Cirque du Soleil, Jerry Seinfeld, and the Brazil national football team.
TEG CEO Geoff Jones said that Silver Lake would contribute technology knowhow as well as entertainment content and live events expertise and relationships that can help the company expand globally. Affinity has already pioneered entry into new markets within Asia. TEG established an Asia unit in Singapore in 2017 and went on to acquire TicketCharge in Malaysia and form a joint venture with Yongle in China. It also purchased two touring businesses – The Dainty Group and Life Like Touring.
"High quality live sports and entertainment content is more sought after now than ever and represents a massive global addressable market for the company. We believe TEG's innovative and integrated ticketing, content, digital marketing and analytics platform is well-positioned to continue to benefit from increasing consumer demand worldwide," said Stephen Evans, a managing director at Silver Lake, in a statement.
Silver Lake, which has over $43 billion in assets under management and committed capital, invests in technology businesses globally. Asia investment activity has primarily focused on China, where current portfolio companies include ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and its financial services affiliate Ant Financial, and artificial intelligence specialist SenseTime.
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