BDA Partners is pleased to announce that the funds advised by its client, Advantage Partners, have agreed to sell WD Holdings Co Ltd, the holding company of Wavedash Co Ltd (“Wavedash”) to Vivid Seats Inc (NASDAQ: SEAT). The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2023, subject to regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions.
Wavedash, headquartered in Tokyo, operates Japan’s longest serving and largest secondary ticketing marketplace for live events.
Vivid Seats, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading marketplace that uses its technology platform to connect millions of buyers with thousands of ticket sellers across hundreds of thousands of events each year.
Stan Chia, CEO, Vivid Seats, said: “Wavedash presents a strategically exciting and financially accretive opportunity for Vivid Seats. Wavedash is the market leader in the Japanese secondary ticketing market, with a large and growing customer network supported by robust technology and compliance capabilities. We are excited to grow our TAM by expanding internationally with a market leading business.”
Jeff Acton, Partner, Head of Technology and Co-Head of BDA Tokyo, commented: “We are very pleased to have helped Wavedash find a new partner in Vivid Seats, and match the two leading marketplaces for secondary tickets in Japan and the US. There has been increasing global interest to acquire Japanese companies in the Tech sector and we expect the trend to continue. The deal demonstrates BDA’s capabilities to successfully deliver cross-border M&A solutions to private equity funds in Japan.”
BDA acted as exclusive financial advisor and TMI Associates acted as legal counsel to Advantage Partners. Simmons & Simmons and Nishimura & Asahi acted as legal counsel to Vivid Seats.
The BDA Deal team includes:
– Jeff Acton, Partner, Co-Head of Tokyo, Head of Technology, Tokyo
– Brian Lee, Director, Tokyo
– Hikaru Murase, Vice President, Tokyo
– Mai Truong, Associate, Tokyo
– Junya Aizawa, Analyst, Tokyo
About BDA Partners
BDA Partners is the global investment banking advisor for Asia. We are a premium provider of Asia-related advice to sophisticated clients globally, with over 25 years’ experience advising on cross-border M&A, capital raising, and financial restructuring. We provide global reach with our teams in New York and London, and true regional depth through our seven Asian offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA has deep expertise in the Chemicals, Consumer & Retail, Health, Industrials, Services and Technology sectors. We work relentlessly to earn our clients’ trust by delivering insightful advice and outstanding outcomes.
BDA Partners has strategic partnerships with William Blair, a premier global investment banking business, and with DBJ (Development Bank of Japan), a Japanese Government-owned bank with US$150bn of assets. www.bdapartners.com
About Advantage Partners
Advantage Partners is a private equity firm based in Tokyo that specialises in buyouts, carve-outs, turnarounds, privatisations, minority investments amongst other types of investment transactions. The fund established in 1997 and serviced by Advantage Partners is considered Japan’s first private equity fund and Advantage Partners has since advised funds that have invested over JPY 500bn across over 100 investments. The company also has offices in China, Hong Kong and Singapore to cover the Asian region, along with a dedicated renewables and sustainability special purpose acquisition company listed on the New York stock exchange (NYSE: APCA).
About Vivid Seats Inc.
Vivid Seats Inc. operates as an online secondary marketplace for tickets in the United States and Canada. The company operates in two segments, Marketplace and Resale. The Marketplace segment acts as an intermediary between event ticket buyers and sellers; processes ticket sales on its website and mobile applications through its distribution partners; and sells tickets for sports, concerts, and theater shows, and other live events. The Resale segment acquires tickets to resell on secondary ticket marketplaces; and provides internal research and development support for Skybox and to deliver seller software and tools. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
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