WINNIPEG — Epic Production Technologies, once a major North American provider of concert and theatrical lighting and staging for Billy Joel, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Green Day, The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera, appears to have sharply scaled back its operations. Press reports noted layoffs at company locations in Winnipeg and Burnaby Canada and in Oxnard, CA. Senior executives including Marc Raymond, Ted Fowler and Brian Konechny are also reportedly no longer working for the company.
In a recent report by The Winnipeg Free Press, Raymond had noted that a major loan from Wells Fargo had matured and the bank had demanded payment in full. New York-based Praesidian Capital, Epic’s majority shareholder, was said to be seeking alternate financing solutions in an effort to keep the company going and to supply lighting and other services for upcoming shows.
Epic Production Technologies was created in Sept. 2008 via a merger between Q1 Production Technologies and Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting.
Q1 was founded in 2001 by Raymond and Phil Bernard. Q1 had acquired assets of a defunct production company that Raymond had also co-founded, Westsun International, and had grown through a subsequent merger with Showtime Lighting, which had been founded by Konechny.
Ed & Ted’s, which had been operating in the Los Angeles area when it merged with Q1 to form Epic, was founded in Salt Lake City in 1994 by event producer Ted Fowler, concert promoter Jim McNeill and audio company owner Ed Pratt.
H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm, was the majority shareholder of Epic in Sept. 2008 before Praesidian Capital assumed majority ownership two years later.
For more information, please visit www.epicpt.com.
