Anschutz Expands Arena Holdings By Buying Lanxess-Arena In Cologne, Germany

The sale of the operating company for Germany's Lanxess-Arena is "almost completed" after months of negotiations, according to KÖLNISCHE RUNDSCHAU. Philip Anschutz's AEG, together with ticketing service CTS Eventim, will "become the new owners of the arena," which is in the Cologne borough of Deutz. The two companies will "also acquire the practice arena of the Kölner Haie hockey club," referred to as "Kölnarena II," which was "an important point during the negotiations." In '10 the Kölnarena II "generated a loss" of €734,000 ($900,000). The new owners also "extended the contract of current Lanxess-Arena Exec Dir Stefan Löcher until '16. After years of losing money, the Lanxess-Arena posted net profits in '09 and '10. The operating company reported a surplus of €1.2M in '10 (KÖLNISCHE RUNDSCHAU, 7/17). EISHOCKEY-MAGAZIN.de reported that the new owner of the Lanxess-Arena is no stranger in Germany. AEG, which owns arenas in Berlin and Hamburg as well as two hockey teams, the Eisbären Berlin and the Hamburg Freezers, will pay together with CTS Eventim about €5M ($6.1) to own the 18,500-seat arena (EISHOCKEY-MAGAZIN.de, 7/17).