US investment firm KKR is buying British event organiser Superstruct Entertainment, according to the Financial Times.
Superstruct Entertainment owns more than 80 music festivals, including Flow Festival and Tuska in Finland
Both festivals are currently held in Helsink's Suvilahti district — Tuska this coming weekend and Flow Festival in August.
According to Eeka Mäkynen, festival director of Tuska, the acquisition will have little impact on the Finnish festival's operations.
"We are not really operating with venture capitalists, but with Superstruct now and in the future," Mäkynen told Yle.
Tuska became part of Superstruct in 2021, and Mäkynen said that being a part of the chain has been very useful for his work.
"It has helped us enormously to have a network of 80 festivals and colleagues with whom to exchange ideas. We don't all have to make the same mistakes," Mäkynen said.
According to the Financial Times, KKR will pay 1.3 billion euros for Superstruct Entertainment, which was previously owned by Providence Equity Partners.
The British company is the second largest event organiser in the world after Live Nation. Its events attract seven million visitors a year.
Event management is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the industry's big players. There are few festivals left in Finland that are not part of a larger national or international chain.
"In the end, the customer wins. People who come to a festival get better service and a better programme," said Mäkynen.
Helsingin Sanomat was the first newspaper in Finland to report on the acquisition.
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