US investor Ananym builds stake in Europe's top ticket seller CTS Eventim, urges changes

By Christoph Steitz and Svea Herbst-Bayliss

FRANKFURT/NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - US activist investor Ananym Capital said on Tuesday it has taken a stake in Germany's CTS Eventim, adding the firm, which sells tickets for events by global artists such as Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Iron Maiden, was significantly undervalued.

With a current market value of nearly €6 billion ($6.73 billion) ($6.6 billion), CTS Eventim is Europe's top ticket seller and also organises major festivals such as Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.

"It's an investment we might like for a long time," Ananym co-founder Charlie Penner said at the 13D Monitor Active Passive-Investment Summit in New York. "There is actually money to be made by giving people a break. In this case getting some actual human contact," Penner, who jointly runs Ananym with co-founder Alex Silver, added.

The German company's shares have fallen nearly 50% since reaching a record high in May last year, pummelled by weak results, disappointing 2026 guidance and the recent departure of its finance chief, which marked the third CFO departure at the group since 2020.

Ananym, which has a reputation for working collaboratively with its target companies, argues that CTS Eventim is resilient to artificial intelligence but should use it to help enhance its customer experience and ultimately boost its share price.

Providing investors with more transparency about its business model, establishing a stable management structure as well as a share buyback could unlock upside potential of 50% to 100%, Penner said at the conference.

CTS Eventim, whose founder and long-time CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg is also the group's top shareholder, trades at a 44% discount to US peer Live Nation based on the ratio of core profit to enterprise value, according to LSEG data.

The group, which is scheduled to hold its first ever capital markets day next month, expects sales and operating profit to remain stable or slightly improve in 2026 compared to last year.

Last year, the group's operating margin stood at 15.5%, while revenue grew to €3.08 billion.

Ananym feels management has a chance to eliminate market misconceptions and spread the word about the German company to more international investors at the capital markets day, which comes at a time private equity firms are eager to buy live entertainment assets.

Most pressing, however, may be a push to buy back more shares, which would signal more confidence in the company's future, Penner said. At the moment several investors have said that buying back shares would be the highest return use of capital, suggesting more activists may be ready to push for them at a time many targets' stock prices are under pressure.

The investment marks Ananym's second in Germany within a year after disclosing a stake in German power equipment firm Siemens Energy, arguing in favour of a spinoff of the group's wind turbine division Siemens Gamesa to raise value.

Penner and Silver founded Ananym two years ago. At last year's 13D conference, Penner urged energy and technology company Baker Hughes to spin off its oil field services and equipment business, arguing such a step could help push up the stock price by at least 60%.

($1 = 0.8920 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Hugh Lawson)