BLUE MEN FETCH A LOT OF GREEN
Like a shiny bald guy devouring Cap’n Crunch, Cirque du Soleil, the global entertainment company credited with reinventing the art of circus, on Thursday gobbled up the company behind Blue Man Group, the performance art show with mass appeal.
In the process, Cirque considerably expanded its ability to help both enterprises thrive and diversify.
“Our primary goal is diversification,” said Daniel Lamarre, chief executive officer of Cirque, which has a network of 450 cities its shows visit. “We are acquiring the Blue Man brand because it is a type of show that is very different from us, and at the same time has great complementarity. We both began decades ago, and grew out of street performances. And now, with a whole new set of resources, we can expand geographically. And we can introduce both our brands to new markets without changing the character of either brand, yet when possible sharing creative talent.”
Lamarre is particularly intent on developing the Chinese market for both shows, and plans are already underway to create a huge, Las Vegas- scale permanent Cirque operation in Hangzhou, the fabled city renowned for its gardens and waterways and sometimes dubbed “the Venice of the East.” He also has his eye on Europe, because Cirque has yet to have a permanent show there.
“With ‘ Blue Man’ we now have a smaller, less laborintensive show [ three actors and three musicians] that can open up audiences for us in many places,” said Lamarre. “It currently has permanent productions in New York, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas and Berlin, but we hope to be able to take it to many of the countries where we currently perform and they have never been.”
“Our strategy for the future is very, very clear,” Lamarre said, noting that both brands have an extremely loyal fan base, but also have been around long enough so that there is a whole new audience to tap for each. “We want to become a leader, a global leader of live entertainment.”
It’s a complex transaction, and a global one as well. The Montreal- based Cirque is now owned by a consortium that includes: TPG, the San Francisco and Fort Worth- based private equity firm with Internet and digital media and marketing prowess ( the major shareholder, it controls 60 percent of the company); the Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd, which has a 20 percent stake; Canada’s second- largest pension fund, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which holds a 10 percent stake, and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte’s family trust, which controls the remaining 10 percent.
When TPG acquired Cirque in 2015, Moody’s Investors Service valued the deal at $ 1.5 billion. According to Lamarre, the acquisition of New York- based Blue Man Productions is in the tens of millions of dollars, though he would not be more specific.