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Music promoter Mean Fiddler has been sold for £37.9m to an American-Irish consortium comprised of MCD Productions offshoot Gaiety and Clear Channel Entertainment. The company was sold by founder Vince Power to the Hamsard investor group and is set to make him a multi-millionaire twenty years after its inception. As well as its eponymous venue in London, Mean Fiddler owns the Astoria, the Jazz Café and the Garage venues, alongside joint ownership of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire and Brixton Academy. The promoter also manages some of the UK’s most successful music events, including the Reading and Leeds festivals, as well as boasting a 39% interest in the Glastonbury festival. It employs 300 staff with a turnover in excess of £44m. Clear Channel Entertainment chairman and chief executive Brian Becker said: “Mean Fiddler’s world-class festivals and venues will add significantly to the assets we currently own in the UK. We are very pleased to be partnering in this acquisition with Denis Desmond, one of the best promoters in Europe. “We believe that together we can take Mean Fiddler, the company Vince Power has successfully grown out of one small venue, to even greater heights.” MCD Productions chief executive Denis Desmond is set to become managing director of the Mean Fiddler Music Group, with Power reportedly planning a new entertainment network to include venues in London and Paris. The deal remains subject to receipt of all relevant competition clearance from the Office of Fair Trading.