Festicket - Case Update

The High Court has finally ruled on an issue which has been preventing the joint administrators of Festicket from making distributions to creditors for nearly two years.

Festicket, one of the world’s largest ticketing providers to event organisers including Coachella and Tomorrowland, entered administration in September 2022, never having achieved a profit and having been hit hard by the pandemic. Cameron Gunn, Simon Jagger and Lee Manning of Resolve were appointed joint administrators, and a pre-pack sale of the business to Lyte, another ticketing platform, was completed on 13 September 2022.

Now, nearly two years later, the High Court has released its decision finding that Festicket does not hold monies on trust for ticketing agencies and promoters in relation to ticket sales made by Festicket as agent under Festicket’s standard agreement.

The Court ruled that no trust was created of the ticket sales proceeds under the agreement, since there was nothing in the agreement to prevent Festicket from using the proceeds from the sales when received and then later accounting to the ticketing agencies and promoters with any funds it had to make those payments.

The Court also found Festicket’s agency role in relation to warranties and its role in selling the tickets did not lead to a trust being created.

The decision can be found HERE. Thomas Munby KC and Fiona Dewar of Maitland Chambers (instructed by Greenberg Traurig) represented the joint administrators.