UK Entertainment firm AEG Europe in talks to sell minority stake to CIC: report

Entertainment firm AEG Europe is planning to raise hundreds of millions of pounds by selling a minority stake to an outside investor in a deal that could value it at £1 billion ($1.6 billion), Sky News's, Mark Kleinman today reported in a blog post.

AEG Europe, operator of London's O2 live entertainment arena has last week approached China's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC), to raise money to fund the company's international expansion, the report said.

The news comes a day after CIC, the $410-billion sovereign wealth fund, acquired an 8.68-per cent stake in the UK utility company Thames Water, for an undisclosed sum. (See: Chinese sovereign wealth fund acquires stake in Britain's utility Thames Water)

Morgan Stanley, which is advising the entertainment group, is understood to have proposed several possible structures for a deal, including selling up to a 49 per cent stake in AEG.

AEG, controlled by the US Philip Anschutz, is one of the world's leading entertainment companies and operates leading live entertainment arenas in cities like New York, Los Angles, Ontario, Stockholm, London, Berlin, Rotterdam, Beijing, Sydney and Doha.

The company is also developing 12 arenas in China, Stockholm and Las Vegas.

AEG is said to be among other suitors planning to bid for the live entertainment arm of HMV, the crisis-stricken high street retailer that was last year acquired by Citigroup.