ARE.L Regulatory News (ARE)

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF EU REGULATION 596/2014 (AS AMENDED) (WHICH FORMS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW PURSUANT TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018) ("EUWA")).  UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

26 April 2021

ARENA EVENTS GROUP PLC

("Arena" or the "Company") 

Completion of Aztec Shaffer Acquisition

Arena Events Group plc (AIM: ARE) is pleased to announce that, further to the announcements of 7 April and 16 April 2021, Arena and the Co-Bidders have completed the acquisition of Aztec Shaffer. Arena now holds a 50% equity stake in Aztec Shaffer and now has management control of the business.

Aztec Shaffer comprises two businesses, Aztec Events & Tents and Shaffer Sports & Events. Aztec is a very similar business to Arena Stuart, the US operations of Arena Events Group, based in California. It has a diversified customer and event base with its products including party/wedding tents as well as tables, chairs, linens, table top items, dance floors and decorative items. The significant majority of Shaffer's historical revenues has come from golf, supporting in excess of 15 tournaments a year including the Players Championship and the Presidents Cup. Other sports served by Shaffer include motorsports and horse racing. Shaffer's focus on sports is well aligned with Arena Events Services who have a broader customer mix and also serves many events outside of the sporting world.

Aztec Shaffer has suffered a significant reduction in revenues over the last 15 months, compounded further by the 363 bankruptcy of the business. As a result of the bankruptcy, the multi-year long term contract with the US Tour has been replaced by a short term amended contract up to the end of December 2021. All the other significant contracts have been retained and the company will commence discussions with the US Tour with a view to securing a new multi-year contract over the coming months.

Greg Lawless, Chief Executive Officer of Arena commented:

"I am delighted we are able to welcome Aztec Shaffer to the fold. They have an excellent 40 year heritage in a key US territory with state of the art equipment following significant investment in recent years. We will immediately start to work with their senior management to rebuild the business back to pre-Covid levels. These efforts will be helped by the gradual reopening of the events market over the next few months.

The acquisition will broaden the Group's North America tenting presence operating from a brand new, purpose built operational facility in Houston, Texas, extending the Group's US event furniture rental business operating from a warehouse and showroom facility based in downtown Houston, the fourth largest city in the US.

We are confident that the business fits exceptionally well with the Arena ethos of delivering premium quality solutions for our customers. We are, therefore, delighted to welcome the Aztec Shaffer team to the Arena Group and to help us deliver the Arena Standard across an even larger part of the US market."

Defined terms in this announcement shall have the same meaning as those in the RNS release on 29 March 2021.

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