Ingenious, a creative industry investment specialist, has launched two fundraising initiatives: Impresario Festivals to raise approximately GBP4.2m (EUR5m) to invest in live music festivals; and Entertainment VCT H share offer to raise up to GBP25m to invest in live events.
The initiatives have been launched by Ingenious’ dedicated live events team in response to the growing demand for live events globally. The team have identified a significant market opportunity to invest in independent, niche music festivals, which with good management have shown they can outperform their mainstream peers.
Industry research predicts the global concert and music festival market will be worth GBP10bn by 2016.
Impresario Festivals is a new company established by Ingenious to own, develop and produce live music festivals in the UK and internationally. Impresario has pre-agreed the acquisition of a cornerstone brand, Rewind Festival, which is the world’s largest 1980s music festival series. Ingenious is making its own cornerstone investment of GBP2m in the new company.
The Entertainment VCT H Share offers investors the opportunity to become involved with the Ingenious Entertainment VCTs that take minority stakes in a broad range of live events and branded entertainment content. The ‘H’ share offer aims to raise up to GBP25m of further funds through the issue of ‘H’ Shares, split equally between Ingenious Entertainment VCT 1 plc and Ingenious Entertainment VCT 2 plc.
The Entertainment VCTs, originally launched in November 2007, have raised a total of GBP55m to date and invest broadly across the UK live events market including music festivals, trade fairs, exhibitions, sporting events and theatrical productions giving enhanced portfolio diversity.
Paul Bedford, senior investment director at Ingenious Investments, says: “The launch of Impresario Festivals is in response to the clear investment opportunity we see for experienced managers such as us to identify and back niche music festivals with a core audience, a clear identity and great growth potential.
“In addition to UK music festivals, the broader live events market is fast-growing and continues to offer attractive opportunities for experienced investors who are able to identify early and respond to its changing dynamics and trends. Through our entertainment VCTs we have a highly successful track record of investing in live events and delivering outstanding returns to our investors. Given this unique positioning, we are well-placed to continue this performance for those investors wishing to subscribe to our H Share issue.”
