Morning all, Craig Mc Glashan here on Europe Wire duty from the London newsroom. I’m excited to have tickets for the Stranger Things stage show this week – and in perfect timing, we’ve got a story about the company whose theaters host the play. We speak to Providence Equity Partners’ Andrew Tisdale and Robert Sudo about the firm’s exit from ATG, a theater company that covers venue operations, production and ticketing. It operates 70 venues that host shows such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Paddington the Musical. Providence has also been doing deals in the B2B events business this year – Hyve and Closer Still. Tisdale and Sudo walk us through the similarities in the investment playbooks for entertainment and B2B events. In fresh deal news, Brookfield has agreed to a take-private of Reliance Worldwide, a global manufacturer of plumbing and heating products. To finish, Eurazeo has completed a majority investment in Netco Group, a European provider of critical maintenance services for conveyor systems used in vital industries. The stake was acquired from Ardian and Netco’s management team, with Netco’s founders making a significant reinvestment alongside Eurazeo.

Symmetry Squeezing into theater seats to see the Harry Potter stage show may seem a world away from pressing the flesh at a B2B conference in a cavernous exhibition arena. But for private equity firms that back the businesses behind such events, there are more similarities than differences. Providence Equity Partners has been on a run of deals in the sector. It agreed in August to sell ATG Entertainment, a theater company that covers venue operations, production and ticketing. It operates 70 venues that host shows such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Paddington the Musical and Stranger Things: The First Shadow. The sale was around £4.5 billion ($6.1 billion) versus an entry of roughly £350 million. In the B2B world, alongside co-owner Searchlight Capital Partners the firm agreed in June to sell Hyve for £1.3 billion. In May, it reinvested in Closer Still Media as Searchlight became a co-owner at a valuation of £1.3 billion. In its last 12 sale exits, Providence increased the enterprise value of the sold asset by 7x on average, while it has generated distributions representing an average of 24 percent of prior year NAV per year to LPs since the beginning of 2024. Andrew Tisdale, vice-chairman, and Robert Sudo, senior managing director, talked PE Hub through the similarities between entertainment and B2B events investing: the importance of category leaders; underwriting through disruption; tech investment; global expansion; and exit timing. In showbiz terms, the product has got to be a showstopper. The Harry Potter stage show won a series of design awards, for instance."What you can see on stage nowadays compared to 10 or 20 years ago is just jaw-dropping," said Sudo. And just as dusty old productions won’t cut it in the age of high-end theater effects, B2B events must also be premium for private equity firms to be interested."There are many businesses that we’ve said ‘no’ to in this space," said Tisdale. "You must have shows that are really important for the ecosystem that they serve. You’ve got to have a really good understanding of that dynamic. And not just the number-two or -three, but the number-one shows in the verticals a..."