Canada: Cirque du Soleil Closes Transaction of Majority of Shares

In April this year, Cirque du Soleil announced the sale of the majority of its shares for the first time. Now the Canadian producer of live artistic entertainment finalized the deal by selling a majority stake to TPG, a global private investment firm. Further new stockholders are Fosun, one of China's leading privately-owned investment groups, and long-term institutional investor Caisse de dépôt et placement de Québec. Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, who up to now held 80 per cent of the shares, will maintain a minority stake in the company. Mitch Garber, Chair of the Cirque Board, private investment firm Caridge and Cirque President and CEO Daniel Lamarre will also acquire ownership stakes. The transaction was carried out in the framework of Cirque du Soleil’s further growth strategy. “With the assistance of our new partners, we have already begun laying the ground work for the global expansion of the Cirque du Soleil brand, as evidenced by our recently announced growth plans in Asia”, Daniel Lamarre comments. In cooperation with Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group the circus will produce a permanent show located in Hangzhou, China. The production is scheduled to premiere in early 2018. Furthermore, Cirque du Soleil will create an “AVATAR”-inspired show named “TORUK – The First Flight”. The world premiere of this production will be held in Montreal, Canada this December and the show will be introduced in China in 2017 by Fosun and Cirque du Soleil following a North America tour. Since its foundation in 1984, almost 160 million spectators in 400 cities worldwide have seen the cirque’s shows. The entertainment company counts more than 4,000 employees, including 1,300 artists. (eap)