M&A
The
Dealmaker
Steve Monnington of Mayfield Media
Strategies runs the rule over the latest
global exhibition deals
D
espite the many high profile
successes we read about,
private equity ownership doesn’t
always end in success for all
concerned and this month we
have a good example of what can
go wrong when management
and their private equity owners
are not aligned, especially over
growth expectations.
Upper Street Events was
acquired by Livingbridge in
December 2014 when it backed
a management buyout from the
Morris family, owners of the
Business Design Centre.
As part of the transaction,
Phil Soar joined the board
and all looked good for the
future. However, Phil departed
four months later, which with
hindsight wasn’t a good sign, and
the three key managers – Paul
Byrom, Dan Holmes and Isobel
Dennis – all left in April and May
2017. Paul Byrom was replaced by
Immediate Media’s Julie Harris.
In a wonderful piece of
symmetry, Livingbridge have sold
Upper Street to Immediate Media
but instead of Harris moving
back to her old company with
the business, Paul Byrom has
re-joined as head of live events,
suggesting that the new owners
saw his 14 years’ experience
of building Upper Street as a
positive. According to industry
sources, Livingbridge made a
substantial loss on its investment.
Immediate Media seems to be a
good home for the business given
10 — March
its strength in consumer media,
including several of the sectors
where Upper Street runs shows.
Mercator Media, publishers
and exhibition organisers in the
marine, commercial fishing and
ports sectors has acquired Marine
& Coastal Civil Engineering Expo
from Prsym and will co-locate it
with its own Seawork exhibition,
which was essentially the main
competition for Prsym.
In South Africa, Specialised
Exhibitions Montgomery has
acquired FM Expo from TE
Trade Events. The Facilities
Management exhibition will be
co-located with Securex and
A-OSH Expo (occupational health
& safety).
Following its acquisition
of UBM, Informa has started
divesting some of its non-
exhibition assets. The Life
Sciences Media Brands Portfolio
was part of the UBM business and
has been sold to MJH Associates,
a leading US-based medical
communications company, for
just over $100m.
The brands cover three core
vertical markets – Healthcare,
Pharma and Animal Health – and
were included within the Other
Marketing Services division,
which was declining organically
with margins of 12 per cent versus
the Group average of 31.5 per cent.
There is an increasing number
of entrepreneurs selling their
businesses, and at the end of
2018 I had a chat with Dan Taylor
at Events Podcast about the
key points to bear in mind in a
sale process. You can find it at
theeventspodcast.com.
You can also find Steve discussing
the process of selling a business at
2pm on 26 February (Day One) of
International Confex on the EN
Pavilion.
The top global merger
and acquisition deals
in 2019 so far...
Informa sells
Life Sciences
Media Brands
Portfolio to
US-based
MJH Associates in a deal
worth just over $100m.
The divestiture forms part
of Informa’s Progressive
Portfolio Management (PPM)
programme.
Mercator Media Limited
enters an agreement to
purchase the Marine &
Coastal Civil Engineering
Expo (M&CCE Expo) from
Prysm Group. Mercator
Media runs 22-year-old event
Seawork, which M&CCE Expo
will now run alongside.
Reed Exhibitions, a
division of RELX Group,
enters into a definitive
agreement to acquire Mack
Brooks Exhibitions, bidding
against various private
equity firms. Mack Brooks
chairman Stephen Brooks
will reportedly be leaving the
business.
PSAV enters into a
purchase agreement to
acquire event services
company Encore Event
Technologies from The
Freeman Company. This
transaction reinforces PSAV’s
mission of ‘Connecting
and Inspiring People’ by
expanding the breadth of its
capabilities throughout North
America and Asia Pacific.
Immediate Media acquires
Upper Street, which CEO
Tom Bureau calls ‘a further
step in Immediate’s
multiplatform
transformation’.