M & A
Events industry M & A: a mid-year round-up
John McGovern, CEO Grimes McGovern & Associates, casts his eye over a busy half-year of M & A activity in our sector
Above: John McGovern t’ s been a busy year so
I far in events M & A and portfolio companies. Marketplace Events, a US producer of consumer shows, was acquired by New York-based PE firm Clarion Capital Partners in January( not to be confused with Blackstonebacked Clarion Events). In March, events, media and research technology global platform Foundry was sold by International Data Group( owned by Blackstone) to Regent, a global private equity firm based in Los Angeles.
In the same month, legal events, media and info services player ALM Global( formerly American Lawyer Media), owned by NY-based EagleTree
Events M & A Deals( January to June 2025)
Capital( also owner of Trifecta), was acquired by London-based Law Business Research( LBR) which is backed by London-based Intermediate Capital Group and Beverly Hills-based Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. Intermediate is actually a publiclytraded company, which is unusual for a PE firm.
Other M & A deals featured mostly PE-backed buyers joined by publicly-traded Italian Exhibition Group. Some prominent trends this year include: 1. Strategic portfolio expansions through complementary assets 2. Investments in regional shows and growing niche sectors
Company Buyer Date
“ The barrier is really low for someone to see an opportunity with a new market, a new model, a new way of doing things, and to bring it to bear”
Digital Health Intelligence CloserStill Media January 2025 Pro Integration Future Asia Nineteen Group January 2025 Dealmakers Forums Turnmill January 2025 Personalmesse München CloserStill Media January 2025 Federal Business Council Government Executive Media Group February 2025 Canadian Concrete Expo Trifecta Collective March 2025 Plant Based World Expo Emerald Holding March 2025 This is Beyond Emerald Holding March 2025 Ai4 CloserStill Media March 2025 Manifest Hyve Group May 2025 PARCEL Forum CloserStill Media June 2025 Movestro Italian Exhibition Group June 2025
July Deals Company Buyer Date
Touchpoint Markets Arc Network July 2025 Art Monte-Carlo Informa July 2025 Colorado Garden & Home Show Marketplace Events July 2025 Affordable Housing Finance & Multifamily Executive Questex July 2025 Kitchen & Bath Canada Expo Emerald July 2025
3. International expansion 4. Focus on tech / AI CloserStill Media has been an active buyer, acquiring Ai4, Digital Health Intelligence, and Personalmesse München, which have deepened the company’ s reach into AI, digital health, and European HR markets respectively. The June purchase of PARCEL Forum adds a critical logistics conference to its growing North American presence.
Similarly, Emerald Holding acquired Plant Based World Expo and This is Beyond( luxury travel sector) in March, and Kitchen & Bath Canada Expo in July.
In early May 2025, Hyve entered the supply chain and logistics space with their acquisition of Manifest founded in 2022. This deal raises interesting questions about how long it takes to build an events business ripe for acquisition, but serial entrepreneur Jay Weintraub has shown a deftness for launching successful exhibitions and quickly scaling them up for sale.( Hyve also acquired Behavioural Health Tech in July.)
Looking further abroad, in January, Nineteen Group strengthened its position in Asia-Pacific by acquiring Pro Integration Future Asia, an event for Professional AV, Lighting, Immersive technology & Systems Integration. In July, Informa reinforced its presence in Monaco by adding Art Monte-Carlo to its Prestige Portfolio.
July got off to a robust start with five deals just in the first 10 days of the month, with Questex, Arc Network, Informa and Emerald all being active.
While not an event acquisition, we’ d be remiss by not mentioning Blackstone taking Cvent private at an enterprise value of about $ 4.6bn. The move shows the PE firm’ s continued confidence in the future of the events industry. EW
n Grimes, McGovern & Associates is a leading lower middle-market Mergers & Acquisitions firm advising media, events, and information services businesses globally.
16 Issue 4 2025 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk