Harbottle & Lewis advise Raymond Gubbay Ltd on 75% sale to DEAG

Media and entertainment lawyers, Harbottle & Lewis, have advised the shareholders of leading classical concert promoter, Raymond Gubbay Limited, on its 75.1% acquisition by Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG). The part-cash, part-share deal will enable DEAG to move forward with its plans for international expansion of the classical music business.

Raymond Gubbay Limited promotes around 400 opera, ballet and classical music concerts each year in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. These include the annual series of Classical Spectacular concerts and the Christmas Festival at the Royal Albert Hall as well as other ballets and operas at the venue.

Raymond Gubbay who founded the company in 1966 will continue to act as executive chairman. In addition, he will act as advisor and board member of DEAG Classics and together with Peter Schwenkow, DEAG Chief Executive, he will lead on the European expansion of the business, particularly in Scandinavia and France.

Harbottle & Lewis advised Raymond Gubbay Ltd on all aspects of the transaction. The deal was led by partners Colin Howes (corporate) and Neil Adleman (performing arts).

Colin Howes commented: "We have advised a number of individuals recently on the sale of their interests in media and entertainment companies, as well as giving buy-side advice to groups making acquisitions in the sector.

We have the industry expertise to execute or manage an efficient and effective due diligence and negotiation process. The firm complements this with a deep understanding of the needs and expectations of both selling owner-managers and buyers in deals such as this.

Having worked with Raymond and Anthony on various aspects of their business on the road to this deal, we're delighted that it was successful. Negotiations started in mid-March and everyone involved worked their socks off to complete on time within the three week window which was agreed."

For further information, please contact Colin Howes on 020 7667 5000.

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10/04/08

Note for Editors

Harbottle & Lewis LLP
Harbottle & Lewis provides specialist advice to the media and entertainment industries. It is consistently recognised as a leading firm in these areas by independent sources.

Firm overview: The firm's work encompasses all areas of media and entertainment, including film, television, broadcasting, sport, music, publishing, advertising fashion and theatre and remains unique in having expertise right across these sectors.

We provide a complete range of commercial advice to our clients, including: buying and selling businesses and companies, joint ventures, finance, capital markets, commercial disputes, property, employment, immigration and tax. Other specialist legal areas include, sponsorship, intellectual property, legal issues relating to media, including defamation, advertising, brand protection, data protection, privacy, art and gaming and gambling as well as private client and matrimonial work. The firm's expertise in other areas such as aviation and charities is also widely recognised.

Much of our work involves the technology, new media and telecoms industries and we have done ground-breaking work in connection with the digital exploitation of content and e-commerce generally. Specialist knowledge and understanding of the entertainment industry and related IP issues enables the firm to identify and deal with the key issues at an early stage, and then negotiate and provide commercially sound legal advice from a position of strength.

Recent work:
In the last year we have advised on a number of significant corporate deals in the media and entertainment sector including:

Virgin Holidays acquisition of Fast Track Holidays
Acquisition of Objective Productions by All3Media
Acquisitions of Minotaur International and Greenlit Rights by Target Entertainment
Joint venture agreement between Channel 4 and Emap plc
Acquisition of Prospect Pictures, September Films and West Park Pictures by DCD Media
Virgin Active acquisition of Holmes Place
Financing and acquisitions of development houses by SCi/Eidos and Take 2
Sale of 90 per cent of Virgin Books by Random House

Issued by
Caroline Renton
Head of Marketing
Direct line: 020 7667 5231
Email: caroline.renton@harbottle.com