Australian’s Totem Onelove Group, the company behind the hugely successful electronic music festival Stereosonic, is looking at being bought up by an American investment company looking to expand their international profile as a major player in the world of electronic dance music.
As In The Mix reports, SFX Entertainment – the company of business entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman – has made a bid to buy out the Australian company as part of a proposed $1 billion expenditure to expand their acquisitions in 2013.
“I’m not looking to do a hundred festivals,” said Shelly Finkel, head of company acquisitions, at the IMS Engage conference last April. “We’re going to have a handful of the best and improve on them each year.” Part of that restructuring includes acquiring Totem and in turn, Stereosonic, something made clear in SFX’s Initial Public Offering, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday 25th June.
The Initial Public Offering reads:
To date, SFX has acquired four businesses and acquired an interest in one joint venture. SFX also expects to complete four acquisitions simultaneously with or shortly after the closing of this offering: its acquisition of a 75% ownership interest in the worldwide business (the “ID&T Business”) of ID&T Holding B.V. (“ID&T”), its acquisition of a 60% equity interest in i-Motion GmbH Events & Communication (“i-Motion”), its acquisition of 100% of Totem Onelove Group Pty Ltd and Totem Industries Pty Ltd (collectively, “Totem”) and its acquisition of a 70% equity interest in Made Event, LLC and EZ Festivals, LLC (collectively, “Made”).”
The asset contribution agreement notes that Totem will sell for $75 million, a combined figure from AUD$60 million in cash and AUD$ 15 million in company stock, with SFX having reportedly already made a AUD$5 million deposit on Totem on Wednesday 22nd May.
SFX’s American holdings roster already includes the acquisition of Beatport, an electronic online digital music store, US promoters Disco Donnie Presents, and Life In Color, and 80% of MMG Nightlife, a management group that handles EDM venues in South Beach, Florida among its portfolio.
The news of the Totem Onelove buy-up arrives just days before the lineup announcement for Stereosonic 2013 on Thursday 4th July, and this year is celebrating its fifth birthday by expanding into a two day event in each capital city while organisers promise “the greatest EDM line-up Australia has ever seen” with “headline acts that have never before shared the stage.”
The two-day tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Thursday 1st August and have increased to slightly inflated price of $199.95 (with no camping permitted on site).
In related news, it was announced in late May that Richie McNeill of Totem One Love would be joining Tim McGee, Ministry of Sound Australia’s Managing Director, in representing Australia on the recently formed ‘Association For Electronic Music’ (AFEM) board, a new global collective formed as an advocacy and lobbying group for the global dance music sector, now valued at US$ 4 Billion, and announced at the International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza.
The 51-strong AFEM board brings together a host of representatives from the dance music world including Patric Moxey (Ultra Records), James Barton (Live Nation), Lohan Presencer, Steve Goodgold (Windish Agency), Matthew Adell (Beatport), Mark Jowett (Nettwerk Music Group), Georgia Taglietti (Sonar Festival), Liz Miller (Big Beat/Atlantic), as well as Tim McGee’s English counterpart for Ministry Of Sound, Lohan Presencer. Others on the AFEM board include members from Germany, South Africa, Canada, North America, Argentina, Netherlands, France, and India.
Stereosonic 2013 Dates
Sydney: Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December
Perth: Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December
Adelaide: Friday 6th December & Saturday 7th December
Melbourne: Saturday 7th December & Sunday 8th December
Brisbane: Saturday 7th December & Sunday 8th December
