Big interview
$100m meeting man
lastair Stewart and Nicholas
Hoare, CEO and COO
respectively of etc.venues, are
to take their successful urban
day venue model across the Atlantic. They
revealed exclusively to CMW editor Paul
Colston that they will go Stateside armed
with a fresh US$100m tranche of private
equity funding to roll out the brand in New
York and the East coast.
Etc.venues CEO Alastair Stewart was winner of
the Transformational Leader award at this
year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year, London and
South East. It is easy to understand why. He has
grown the UK urban day venue portfolio
seven-fold into a £70m ($84.8m) business, since
he led a management buyout backed by Dunedin
in 2006.
Further PE backing followed in 2012, and
now Stewart reveals publicly for the first time to
CMW his plans to double it again within five
years. He will be backed by a further $100m of
private equity funding from US global
hospitality investors Gencom and Benchmark,
the fund that took a major stake a year ago. Etc.
venues has already opened the first of three
planned New York venues, with two more to
come before the New Year. These will add to the
17 UK event spaces which, Stewart claims, have
already seen etc. overtake both Hilton and
Marriott in London for meeting rooms (with
278).
Stewart is not one for resting on laurels, and
doesn’t suffer industry fools gladly. He is never
shy to share his opinions. One is that the
industry has not been successful in getting its
valuable message across. “The conference centre
sector has had its moments, but if we’re to get
interest and investment we need some success
stories,” says Stewart.
Most of etc.’s success has come in the capital,
thanks to its booming meetings sector. London
has nearly all of etc.venue openings, although
Stewart notes its Manchester property has
started to deliver. “We are seeing higher rates in
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CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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there than in Birmingham. There is good
demand and good rates.” By implication, it is a
somewhat tougher ask in Brum.
Aiming for the Big Apple
So, how did the New York big idea come about?
“It is a personal vision. I’ve always wanted to
take the business there,” says Stewart.
The etc. chief says the tipping point was when
his UK private equity investors were not
supportive of Stewart’s international expansion
idea. “They are a UK-focused fund. Our finance
director Paul Keen left and we changed from
UK PE to American investors, Gencom and
Benchmark.”
Another significant part of the new paradigm
was Nick Hoare joining as COO last year. Hoare
had previously worked at Dunedin so knew the
business and its DNA well.
Since the Gencom investment the centre of
gravity switched from London to New York.
“The whole ball game has changed from a
good sized London business to transforming
into a global business,” says Stewart.
He explains that, having honed the model in
London and making it scaleable, it is now the
aim to deploy in New York and benefit from the
much larger market.
Stewart sees the urban day venue market
largely dominated by four big brands: Etc.
venues (UK); Convene in North America;
Chateauform (Europe); and Cliftons in
Australasia.
“Previously, we had all stuck to our home
markets,” says Stewart. “Convene may come to
the UK, of course,” but he says etc. is more than
ready to compete.
Stewart believes there is plenty to export and
while acknowledging that in the US there is a
bigger spread of activity, he maintains the pace
of innovation has been much greater in Europe.
“Europe is so far ahead in technology and
innovation,” says Stewart, while Nick Hoare
adds that the UK approach to training and
meetings means venue suppliers have had to
adapt more quickly. “We had to evolve to keep
ISSUE 102
up with demand,” he says.
Stewart can be forgiven for letting his eyes
move to the bigger prizes. “The big change is
our focus on larger venues,” he says. And they
don’t come much bigger than the old Greater
London Council HQ at County Hall, where
Stewart and Hoare are holding court. “This etc.
venue has been a huge success and symbolises
our natural progression from training to big
events,” says Hoare.
More good numbers, but there have been
recessionary bumps along the road. What would
Stewart have done differently with hindsight?
“Given how good the market has been we
could have been more ambitious and done well.
You can never know the cycle, but we could have
been bolder with investment,” he admits.
HSBC goes hipster?
As etc. gets bigger and used to playing with the
Big Boys of international PE, what of the new
disruptors coming up behind?
“Some are trying to climb on the back of the
co-working phase,” Stewart says. “It is driven by
WeWork who have expanded significantly in
London, making landlords think more
carefully.” He believes that up to 1,100 people
from HSBC are set to relocate to WeWork
premises, but that they may be surprised to find
there isn’t training space, but rather ‘cocoons’.
“We, however, occupy office space and rent on
demand,” contrasts Stewart. “My view is that
the conventional office will come back. You
always need doors in business.”
Stewart does agree that the concept of Space
As A Service (SPaaS) is very helpful in terms of
raising capital and it's why etc. is repositioning
towards being perceived as operating in the
SPaaS sphere.
Tech
Another important area where etc. wants to
show leadership, says Stewart, is through
investment in technology. “As a sector we are
being woeful. We are one of the only companies
[in the sector] with a proper online booking