Live Nation Takes Over Amsterdam’s Heineken Music Hall

By Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen

Live Nation has acquired the operating company that manages and holds the 20-year lease for the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is the country's premier music venue with a capacity of 5,500 and the only venue of its size in Amsterdam. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The venue hosts more than 145 events per year, including recent concerts by Bob Dylan, Lionel Ritchie, Lou Reed, the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Damien Rice and a strong stable of local artists.

This acquisition further strengthens Live Nation's market position in The Netherlands, where the company signed a secondary ticketing deal last year with viagogo.com. The Netherlands is Live Nation’s third largest international market, ranking behind the United Kingdom and Belgium in terms of contribution to adjusted OIBDAN (operating income before depreciation and amortization, non-cash compensation expense and gain or loss on disposition of assets) compensation expense, which according to Live Nation's last financial report was $150 million.

The Netherlands is the 10th largest recorded music market globally, and Amsterdam is a top European metropolitan area with over 6.7 million people located in and around the city.

"The Heineken Music Hall is one of the world's best mid-sized music venues and will further diversify our business in a very important music market," said Alan Ridgeway, CEO Live Nation’s International Music group, in a statement. "We are looking forward to taking over the management reigns of this excellent venue to provide music fans with the best live music and venue experience possible."