Power sparks €46m Mean Fiddler bid by selling stake to joint venture

Mean Fiddler boss Vince Power yesterday triggered a €46 million bid for the music promoter by agreeing to sell his holding to Irish competitor MCD and US giant Clear Channel.

News that Mr Power had accepted the offer came as London-listed Mean Fiddler reported pre-tax profits of £2.7 million (€3.9 million) for 2004 on the back of £49.2 million in sales.

The MCD and Clear Channel joint venture vehicle, Hamsard, announced that Mr Power had agreed to sell his 35 per cent stake in the company for £12.9 million, or approximately €18 million.

As his agreement gives Hamsard control of more than 30 per cent of the shares - MCD already holds 24 per cent - that automatically triggered a bid for the entire company.

The joint venture is offering 60 pence sterling for the outstanding shares, which values the business at a total of £33 million or €46 million.

Last night, Mr Power told The Irish Times he was confident that the deal would go through as Hamsard had already got 85 per cent acceptances. "The other 15 per cent is smaller shareholders and that will take about 21 days to go through," he said.

He said that other shareholders who had accepted the offer included another Mean Fiddler director, Harry Lambert, who holds 8 per cent of the business.

Mr Power, who is from Tramore, Co Waterford, founded Mean Fiddler when he opened the London venue of the same name in 1982. The group owns a string of venues in the UK, 34 per cent of the Glastonbury rock festival and all of the Reading festival.

Last year, it promoted tours by acts that included the Scissor Sisters, rapper 50 Cent, R&B artist Usher and Nelly Furtado. Kylie Minogue, who played Dublin's Point Depot last night, played at its venues, as did Supergrass, the Who and Blue.

Mr Power said that he believed the offer was fair value for the business. "I reckon it is good value and there are very few buyers out there for a company like mine," he told The Irish Times.

Mr Power intends to stay with the company for a short transition period before moving on to other interests. He has bars and restaurants in London's Berkeley Square and Piccadilly.

Last night he suggested that MCD and Clear Channel had their own plans for the business.

"I can't take orders," he said. "After 23 years I need to change direction myself. I've got lots of other venues and bars in London and I have an interest in a place in Paris and I would like to develop clubs in Europe."

Mr Power owns Tramore racecourse and a club in Waterford city. He indicated last night that he could get involved in new projects in this country as well.

Businessman Denis Desmond owns MCD. It is the Republic's biggest music promoter.

Clear Channel is a $9 billion (€7 billion) a-year US entertainment group. In the UK, it owns or exclusively books 28 venues, including the Grand Opera House in York and the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. Around 30 per cent of its sales come from live entertainment.