LDC rocks finance community with £7.3m buyout of HMV’s live music division

PRIVATE equity firm LDC has completed the £7.3m buyout of HMV’s Live Music division, MAMA Group – the UK’s second-largest live music business – in a deal advised out of Birmingham.

MAMA holds more than 2,700 events annually in the UK, with up to 1m people visiting its venues and 150,000 attending its festivals every year.

The transaction provides a strong platform for CEO Dean James, supported by a very experienced management team, to pursue a focused buy-and-build strategy targeting both UK and overseas opportunities.

Future international acquisitions will increase the global influence of the group and its brands, and enhance the prospect for faster growth from global sponsorship and promotions.

MAMA runs a nationwide network of live music venues with capacities ranging up to 2,300. These include The Forum, The Garage, Camden Barfly, Jazz Cafe and The Borderline in London as well as the Edinburgh Picture House, the Manchester Ritz and the Birmingham Institute regionally. All are well-established, iconic venues with a great heritage, which have featured legendary live performances from artists including Amy Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Jack White, Joni Mitchell, The Cure, Kasabian and Rhianna.

MAMA’s stable of festivals includes international music brands Global Gathering, Godskitchen and UK-based events Lovebox, The Great Escape and Wilderness, curated in association with Secret Garden Party and winner of Best Festival (under 15,000 capacity) at the Live UK Music Awards in 2012. MAMA Group also recently announced a new partnership with leading worldwide festival and concert promoter All Tomorrow’s Parties.

MAMA also owns The Fly, the UK’s number 1 music magazine, and uses its in-house live music expertise and technical platform to build the fanbases of artists at every stage of their careers.

LDC has a growing track record in the leisure sector. Recent investments include Boom Pictures, Ocean Outdoors, WRG Creative, and Orion Media.

Alistair Pendleton, Birmingham-based LDC Investment Director, said: “Live Music is a growing and increasingly important sector of the UK economy and in supporting the MBO of MAMA Group we believe we are backing the best management team and the most recognised, successful brand in the business.

“MAMA Group is renowned for its iconic venues, where some of the world’s most successful music artists have performed and hugely popular music festivals, both in the UK and overseas, which have attracted strong followings and showcased some excellent new artists. Management have an exciting buy-and-build strategy and LDC has the resources, skills and track record to help them accelerate their plans and develop the Group into a globally-recognised business and brand.”

Dean James, MAMA Group CEO, added: “To say I am pleased that MAMA has been able to partner with LDC seems inadequate. MAMA has for some time been one of the leading live music companies in the UK and with LDC we will develop our venue and festival business to consolidate our position in this market, and will look to expand into Asia and America.

“We will build on our recent additions to the promotions team and will also re-establish MAMA’s artist services business. MAMA’s distribution assets, The Fly, venue estate, festivals and our tech platform, make it the perfect partner for any artist wishing to build and engage with its fanbase.”

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