Joe GallopBerlin-based pan-European promoter, venue operator and ticketing conglomerate Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) has acquired a majority stake in Irish company Oshi Software Ltd, operator of the ticketing platform tickets.ie.
The deal has been made through DEAG’s UK subsidiary MyTicket Services Ltd. It will see Oshi founder and managing director John O’Neill remain as shareholder in the company and will continue to manage the company in the long term.
With the acquisition, DEAG said it will continue to increase the share of third-party content in ticketing as planned, as well as expand its business activities in Ireland.
The acquisition follows DEAG’s launch of Irish concert and event organiser Singular Artists in 2020 – a joint venture with promoters Fin O’Leary, Brian Hand and Simon Merriman, in which DEAG-owned Kilimanjaro Live holds a 55% stake.
DEAG, which also owns Gigantic Tickets, said it aims to distribute more than 8m tickets per year via its own platforms, as well as expand its position in its core markets Germany and the UK – in concerts, events, sports and exhibitions.
DEAG CEO Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow (pictured) said, “Ticketing is DEAG’s fastest growing business area and an important earnings driver. Especially after the pandemic has subsided, we are experiencing a massive increase in demand for tickets for physical events. We already have a strong international market position with our own platforms and are now expanding our position further. The ticketing market in Ireland is also showing strong growth rates. With myticket.ie and tickets.ie, we have strong independent third-party content platforms here that are an excellent complement to our ticketing portfolio.”
O’Neill said, “We see this deal with DEAG, Kilimanjaro and Singular Artists as bringing our relationship to the next level, of partnership and collaboration. That, to us, is very appealing and exhilarating as we’ll be working closely with them to ensure that all their great artists reach the maximum audience possible.”