Vince Power sells stake in Mean Fiddler for €18m

Mr Vince Power, chairman and founder of live music promoter, Mean Fiddler plc, has sold his stake in the company for £12 million sterling (€18 million) and revealed last night that he was stepping down from the business after more than two decades.

The London-listed company announced yesterday that it had sold 34.7 million shares in the company to financial institutions for a total of £19 million, or 55 pence sterling each.

The placing included Mr Power's entire holding of 21.5 million shares, which he has sold for £11.8 million. Fellow shareholder and director, Mr Harry Lambert, has agreed to sell his stake of 4.8 million, valued at £2.64 million.

Mr Power told The Irish Times last night that he was close to ending his involvement with the company that he founded in 1981. "I'll be staying on as a consultant for a while, but I am stepping down and I won't be going into the office every day," he said.

He said he had decided to move on to work with his other businesses. These include a share in Tramore racecoure in Co Waterford, and a nightclub in Waterford city. In addition, he is developing a number of bar and restaurants, two in London's Berkeley Square and Piccadilly, and another in Paris.

"I'm not going to be retiring, there are plenty of other things that I will be doing," he said. Mr Power added that at the same time, he was sad to leave the company. "I've worked with some great people down the years and we've been associated with some amazing acts and amazing talents," he said.

"But I've felt for a while that it was time to let someone else take over and take the company to the next stage," he added. Mr Power stressed that it would not be ending its links with this country and with Irish music, and pointed out that the infrastructure for this, including the Fleadh festivals, was solidly in place.

Mr Richard Clingen succeeds him as chairman. Mean Fiddler announced yesterday that it had bought his company, Media Internet Telecom (MIT) Ltd, already a partner on its live music internet offering in all-share deal worth over £7 million.

At the same time yesterday, two companies, Ashwell Holdings and Scanfrost, with stakes of just over 4 million shares, valued at over £2 million each, also sold their interests in the business.

Mean Fiddler also confirmed that it had raised £5.6 million through the issue of 10.2 million new shares, also priced at 55 pence each, to financial institutions. The company said that the money would be used to cover general working capital requirements.

The company also announced that turnover for the first six months of the year was up 35 per cent on 2003 to £20 million, while operating losses halved to £500,000.