Ticketmaster Deal Faces U.K. Antitrust Probe

Antitrust regulators in the United Kingdom have announced that they will investigate the planned merger of Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. with Live Nation Inc., the world's largest concert promoter.

The U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading referred the proposed deal to the Competition Commission, an independent public body that carries out investigations into mergers, markets and other regulated industries in the country.

In making the referral, the OFT said the proposed deal could reduce competition by pushing out rivals and upping prices for concerts and other live events.

The U.S. Department of Justice also is reviewing the merger to see whether the deal creates anti-competitive concerns for American consumers.

In February Ticketmaster shareholder Jack McBride filed a class-action lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging the ticketing giant sold itself to Live Nation at too low a price.

The suit says Ticketmaster's executives have breached their fiduciary duties to maximize stockholder value by failing to look for a higher bidder.

The OFT said in a statement June 10 that the deal could prevent one of Ticketmaster's chief European rivals, CTS Eventim, from entering the U.K. market.

CTS currently has an agreement to sell concert tickets for Live Nation in the U.K. beginning December 2009. However, it is not clear what will happen with the arrangement if the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger goes through, according to the OFT.

"We expected CTS' entry, through its contract with Live Nation, to be an important new competitive dynamic in the U.K. ticketing market," OFT Senior Director Ali Kikpay said in the statement.

But the proposed merger risks undermining this potential competition by possibly "prompting the exit" of a third-party player in the market, Kikpay added.

In separately issued statements Ticketmaster and Live Nation called the Competition Commission's pending investigation a "standard part of a full regulatory review."

The commission is expected to report on the merger by Nov. 24.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation said they expect the merger to be completed by this fall.

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