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Live Nation shares soared about 10% on Monday on the news that the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund bought a 5.7% stake in the American events company, which is the mother of Ticketmaster.
The stake, worth about $ 518 million based on the company’s current share price, comprises 12,337,569 shares, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The purchase by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund comes as Live Nation, the world’s largest concert and event promoter, is seeing revenue fade as the coronavirus pandemic strikes the event industry and global economy.
Live Nation’s share price closed at $ 42.01 on Monday, 9.86% higher than the previous day. With concert prospects fading for what may be the rest of the year or more, the stock has fallen more than 40% so far this year. The company is currently implementing freezes and hiring licenses, and has implemented 50% pay cuts for top executives, with CEO Michael Rapino stripping him of his full salary.
Saudi Arabia’s investment makes its Public Investment Fund the company’s third largest shareholder after Liberty Media Corp and Vanguard Group.
The purchase follows numerous reports of Saudi wealth fund buying stakes in companies whose share prices have been erased by the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent blockades worldwide.
The Managing Director of the PIF (Public Investment Fund), Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, attends the Russian-Saudi Investment Forum held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Moscow.
Sergei Bobylev | TASS via Getty Images
In early April, the Saudi fund disclosed an 8.2% stake in the embattled cruise operator Carnival Corp, sending that company’s shares nearly 30% the day the news was announced. Saudi Arabia is now the second-largest stake in the world’s largest cruise company after its president, Micky Arison, who owns a 16% stake.
Carnival has lost 75% of its value to date amid global disruption of leisure travel and several disastrous outbreaks of coronavirus on its cruise ships.
The news also comes after reports that the Public Investment Fund bought stakes in four large European oil companies, although the reports have not been confirmed by the wealth fund and it has not publicly commented on the matter.
The apparent wave of investment has even spread to sports: The Saudi fund is currently said to be in the final stages of a deal to take over the British football club Newcastle United with an 80% stake worth £ 300 million ($ 372 million).
The Public Investment Fund is the kingdom’s primary vehicle for expanding its national and international investments and is a key part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2030 Vision, which aims to diversify the country’s economy away from dependency. of the oil. It oversees more than $ 300 billion in assets and has interests in numerous major companies ranging from Uber and electric vehicle company Lucid Motors to a $ 45 billion investment in Softbank’s $ 100 billion Vision Fund.
