Former Mean Fiddler owner Vince Power has confirmed he has bought a majority stake in Spain's Benicassim Festival, which he describes as being "like the Reading Festival but with sunshine".
As previously reported, Power sold Mean Fiddler to Clear Channel last year, and his former interests in the live space are now being run by Clear Channel's new live entertainment business Live Nation. One of the clauses of the sale means Power is unable to own or run festivals in the UK for three years, hence his decision to look further afield to operate in the festivals space.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Power says that being forced out of the UK festival market is, if anything, a blessing: "The festival market in the UK is saturated anyway. In the summertime there are two festivals every month". With that in mind Power says he sees his investment into the Spanish music festival as the first in a number of European partnerships - with plans to get involved with music events in Eastern Europe, and especially Poland and Hungry.