Private equity continues to invest in the premium-ticketing and hospitality sector, as Causeway Media Partners has acquired a minority stake in QuintEvents, one of the oldest players in that market.
Grousbeck
Causeway is a 5-year-old fund led by Boston Celtics owner and CEO Wyc Grousbeck, along with Celtics and San Francisco 49ers minority owner Mark Wan. Previous Causeway investments include ETN Media, FloSports, Formula E, Session M, SeatGeek and Venue-Next. The QuintEvents deal was completed in late December. The investment comes from Causeway’s second fund, which has around $210 million to invest.
The sector has been undergoing considerable change lately. On Location Experiences, owned by RedBird Capital Partners, Bruin Sports Capital, 32 Equity and the Carlyle Group, acquired PrimeSport, its chief rival, late last year. Meanwhile CAA’s Premium Experiences, itself an amalgam of several agencies, is now under the aegis of Entertainment Benefits Group, after a CAA investment in EBG.
With all the consolidation in high-end sports hospitality and ticketing, QuintEvents has not-so-quietly been seeking investors for some time. CEO Brian Learst said QuintEvents had been talking to Causeway for three years, but this deal took around three months to finalize.
QuintEvents has exclusive, long-term hospitality and ticketing agreements with Formula One, the British Open and Fashion Week, among others.
“We’ll use the investment to build up our F1 program, Fashion Week and some others,” Learst said. “It will allow us to be more flexible and build things out much quicker. And obviously, Wyc and Mark can open a lot of doors for us.”
