Vivendi purchases See Tickets UK

Vivendi has acquired UK ticketing company See Tickets for an estimated purchase price of £83 million, Music Week has reported.

The company managed to see off interest from both CTS Eventim and and AEG, as they also looked to bolster their assets. However, Vivendi’s successful bid for the company will allow Universal to become a major force in the live music market, controlling such contracts as ticketing for Glastonbury Festival with its 137,000 punters.

Vivendi also said the acquisition complements other businesses in its portfolio, such French online ticketing company Digitick, which it bought last year.

See Tickets is the second largest ticketing operation in the UK, with an estimated market share of 20% compared to market leader Ticketmaster’s estimated 40%. Having been established as Stoll Moss Tickets in 1991 and subsequently bought by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group a decade later, See is particularly strong in the live music and theatre segments.

Universal already operates merchandising businesses in the live music sector, as well as artist management divisions and the ability to offer ticketing services to consumers may potentially generate furhter revenues through bundling packages, such as tickets plus CDs.