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Phil Soar
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Exhibition News Magazine
Return to rude health
Welcome to the private equity issue of Exhibition News .
This month we have delved into the financial cogs that keep the industry moving upwards . In this edition we hope to give you an insight into the buyers , the sellers , strategists and advisors on both sides .
Who better to sum up the history of whole world of private equity ( PE ) in the exhibitions industry than Phil Soar ? If there ' s anything our guest editor doesn ’ t know on this subject , I ' ll eat my hat . Find out everything you need to know from p14 . Steve Monnington also gives us his wealth of insight into how he sees the future of mergers and acquisitions developing .
On p20 Peter Jones and Alion Jackson tell us how PE has affected the trajectory of Nineteen Group . Jones also offers a somewhat controversial view of the exhibitions sector as a whole – but I ’ ll not spoil the surprise .
Emblematic of the industry ’ s return to rude health , several of our experts say that PE interest in exhibitions is booming .
The lessons learned during the pandemic about diversification , digitalisation and building better data only seem to strengthen the sector ’ s pulling power – say Louise Obadia and Jonny Baynes of Plural Strategy on p23 .
Daniel Pitchford spells out the qualities needed in a good exhibitions business to get the best investment . There are some great tips , but above all owners need to be honest about their goals , he says on p58 .
We also take a walk round the show floors of two of the best exhibitions in the past month . I joined Hey Dugee at the Toy Fair and Joe Gallop found out how the country ’ s biggest trade show got the spring back in its step ( p52 ).
Last but not least , the brilliant talent of the industry is highlighted by the shortlist of amazing entries into this year ' s EN Awards ( p34 ). All this , I hope , shows the industry is coming back fighting fit . Happy reading .
Emily Wallin Deputy editor Exhibition News
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March — 05