Octagon, the global sports marketing and entertainment group, today announces that it has taken a substantial equity position in Esedos, a leading sports marketing company in Spain. The company will continue to operate under its existing management and will be renamed Octagon Esedos, with immediate effect.
Esedos was formed in 1985 by Joan Cusco and Xavier Bartroli, who continue to manage the business and will retain a significant minority equity position. The company promotes and owns events in a number of sports including trial biking, indoor motorcross, tennis, beach soccer, rallying, skiing and equestrian sports.
Major clients of Esedos include: Tabacalera-Altadis, El Corte Ingles, Telefonica, Cepsa, Airtel-Vodafone, Allied Domecq, Freixenet and Coca Cola.
In addition, international publishing group Motorpress retains an equity position in Esedos and will continue to play a full part in the new partnership with Octagon.
The partnership between Octagon and Esedos also brings together the global management of the sport of Professional Beach Soccer under the umbrella of the Octagon Group. Octagon Esedos, through its subsidiary Pro Beach Soccer, represents the rights to the sport in Europe. Octagon Koch Tavares, based in Brazil, markets the sport in Latin America and together with Octagon Esedos is involved in a partnership which holds the rights and manages the sport worldwide.
Commenting on the acquisition, Frank Lowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Octagon said, ‘Spain is an important European market and this partnership will form a key part of our European network. We have already worked successfully with the management of Esedos for some years in tennis and beach soccer, and look forward to building on that relationship with them in the future as we grow Octagon’s business in Spain.’
Joint presidents of Octagon Esedos, Joan Cusco and Xavier Bartroli said, ‘It’s a perfect time for us to become involved with a major global player. Octagon’s philosophy is similar to our own, and culturally the fit is very good. We are very excited by the opportunities that exist for this partnership.’
Jose Luis Samaranch, General Manager of Motorpress Iberica, said: ‘We welcome Octagon’s involvement with Esedos and we look forward to working together to continue to generate synergies between the company’s events and our magazines.’
Octagon Esedos, which is based in Barcelona, will become part of Octagon Marketing, the sponsorship and events division of the Octagon group.
As the sports and event marketing division of The Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing communications groups, Octagon offers clients marketing-led expertise across the eight major disciplines that make up the sports and entertainment market: athlete representation, event management, consultancy, property representation, TV rights sales and distribution, TV production and archive, rights ownership, and licensing and merchandising. Only three years from its launch, Octagon employs over 1,500 people in 21 countries on all major continents.
For more information contact:
Alasdair Ritchie at Octagon Worldwide. Tel: + 44 20 7862 0000
Joan Cusco at Octagon Esedos. Tel: +34 93 818 2900