fully engaged , embracing content and other medium even though at the core of it , live media may still be the biggest and most important revenue generator .
What ’ s coming up for Arc ? We ’ re very focused on partnership and working with operators , owners and associations . What makes our industry magic is the people who are in it . Often the private owners of businesses are the ones who have the connections , have the drive , the market .
We are looking at acquisitions in Europe and North America and the market is very good at the moment . We have lots of people we are talking to .
We should be announcing some more deals in the coming months .
We ’ re lucky because were at the start of our investment cycle , which means we have different dynamics to my friends at Comexposium , Clarion , Tarsus . That doesn ’ t put them in a bad position , just a different position .
We want to invest more and continue to grow . our industry still account for less than 10 % in an industry that continues to grow .
What sort of businesses are you looking to invest in ? We want strong brands , brands that are well known and respected within their respective industry . We want real community focus . Where a business has the capability to be at the centre of their industry or is well embedded in their industry , that includes the opportunity for content , written or live or digital .
Simon Foster
How do you see the future of events businesses ? I think when we get back to same cadence of business and good strong events running – which is probably 2023-the more important question will be what will it be like ?
I ’ d like to think this is the wakeup call for us as an industry .
If I ’ m really critical , the industry spent a lot of time building big venues , it ’ s very good at building shows , very good at rebooks and sales and less good at understanding the dynamics of why people are there , which is to meet each other , and buy and sell and do business .
When you compare our medium – putting thousands of people in a room – versus more focused medium , digital , online , social media where you have very clear targeted metric . That is what has got to change .
The industry of the future will be
Any final thoughts ? One of the things I ’ ve learnt a lot over past four years is how many misconceptions there are about PE . A lot of people ’ s opinion of PE companies is they are nasty people who will come in and break companies up , or they ’ ll cut costs or try and squeeze every bit of profit out . That ’ s categorically not true .
Yes , PE is interested in money , but they are about creating value .
I have had pleasure to work with two [ Charterhouse at Comexposium and EagleTree at Arc ].
They have both been really invested in growing the business . Not because they are generous because they realise that ’ s how they can make value going forward . I think they are very positive for our industry .
My opinion of PE was probably very different when I was in a public company . EN
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