This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Business News Legal Live Business
Festicket files ‘notice of commencement of moratorium’ with Companies House
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 25 August 2022
Another innovative ticketing company seems to be facing some financial challenges, with Festicket having submitted a ‘notice of commencement of moratorium’ to Companies House.
Under UK law, a moratorium of this kind means no legal action can be taken against a company without court approval. It’s a temporary measure that is designed to give companies that are facing certain financial challenges some time to address those issues.
Festicket was founded in 2011 and specialises in selling special packages around festivals and music events, with things like travel and accommodation bundled in.
Founders Zack Sabban, Jonathan Younes and Jerome Elfassy launched the company after attempting to plan a trip to US festival Coachella, and realising how many questions such a trip posed for the festival-goer, and how much hassle was involved in organising travel, accommodation and such like.
In the subsequent decade Festicket has partnered with many festivals around the world – including Coachella – to make the full festival experience easier for the customer. Though, of course, like the entire live and ticketing business, it faced a tricky couple of years during the COVID pandemic when most of those festivals were cancelled.
Specifics about Festicket’s current position are not known, and the company says it is not currently in a position to formally comment. However, a source told TheTicketingBusiness that the firm is in talks with a third party, possibly about buying the ticketing platform, while directors are consulting advisors on ways to restructure the business.
Explaining what the moratorium means, the source said: “The company still has to pay its ongoing debts during the moratorium, eg rent and employee liabilities, and also has to appoint someone to oversee the process, ie a licensed insolvency practitioner, whose main job is to monitor and then evaluate whether a rescue plan will work”.
According to the Companies House filing, Festicket is working with ReSolve Advisory Limited on this process, which describes itself as an advisory business that helps “owners, investors, boards, and management teams solve complex financial problems”.
TheTicketingBusiness’s source added: “It is my understanding that the company directors are in exclusive negotiations with a third party, and this gives them some time – initially 20 days but this can be extended – to assess the situation and to potentially develop the plan for the company as a going concern. Unfortunately, for current clients and staff, the business may be considered beyond rescue”.
Festicket’s notice of moratorium follows the news earlier this month that Pollen – another company that builds packages around festivals and curated live experiences – had fallen into administration, despite raising $150 million in new investment earlier this year.
