Los Angeles - Two of the largest concert and event companies in the US announced Tuesday that they had agreed to merge, creating one of the largest live entertainment companies in the world.

The 400-million-dollar deal will see Live Nation take over Ticketmaster to form a new company called Live Nation Entertainment with an estimated value of 2.5 billion dollars including debt.

The new company is expected to sell more than 150 million concert tickets a year, promote 22,000 concerts annually, and own more than 140 venues globally.

It will also handle more than 200 big name artists including U2, Shakira, Madonna, Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus and the Eagles. The concert companies, which also control marketing and recording rights for some of the artists, are seen as a growing force in the music world.

As sales of recorded music have declined because of the internet, touring revenues have increased.

However the deal faces significant anti-trust hurdles with one key legislator already coming out against it.

"This merger would give a giant, new entity unrivaled power over concert-goers and the prices they pay to see their favorite artists and bands," said New York Senator Charles Schumer, in a statement. "It must be viewed skeptically and scrutinized with a fine-toothed comb by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission."

The announcement of the deal comes after both companies have suffered negative publicity in recent weeks on charges that they inflated ticket prices for popular acts such as Bruce Springsteen.

But in a release announcing the deal, Ticketmaster and Live Nation said the merger would improve access to tickets, reduce prices and increase attendance at events.

The companies said that Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino will run the new company as CEO while Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff will be executive chairman. Ticketmaster chairman Barry Diller will be non-executive chairman. (dpa)