MAMA To Purchase Mean Fiddler Name And Venues

LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Mean Fiddler Music Group has struck a $12 million cash deal with media and marketing firm MAMA Group plc to sell its brand and a set of London venues to the company.

Mean Fiddler announced today that it will hand over the Jazz Café, the Borderline, the Garage and the former Mean Fiddler live music venues, as well as the 75% stake it holds in Manto Soho Limited, the company that operates the G-A-Y bar and the G-A-Y Late club.

Other Mean Fiddler-branded items, such as the website and it’s leased offices, will be included in the deal.

Effective immediately, all remaining MFMG business will be conducted as Festival Republic.

The company said in a statement that the sale will allow it to refocus resources on driving its existing festivals plus the two “venue jewels” in the London Astoria and Astoria2, which were not part of the transaction.

Festival Republic’s festivals include the Carling Weekend Reading and Leeds, the Latitude and Rise, and an involvement in the Glastonbury Festival.

According to Billboard, MAMA had offered an earlier bid to buy the Mean Fiddler venues. “In essence the deal is the same, but this acquisition structure is simpler and quicker than the proposed exercise of our options over the businesses and assets,” said MAMA co-chief executives Adam Driscoll and Dean James in a statement.

“This will enable us to immediately progress the integration of those businesses into our Live Music division, and enables all concerned to avoid the period of uncertainty which would have existed for the customers, suppliers and employees of those businesses while the various conditions were fulfilled.”

Under the terms of the deal, Festival Republic will be able to continue to license the “Mean Fiddler” brand with outdoor music festivals holding 10,000-plus capacities.

Last year, MAMA Group entered a proposal to purchase Sanctuary Group, but withdrew before year’s end. In March of this year, the company purchased Mean Fiddler’s London Forum for $1.9 million. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers