Recovery
Steve Monnington of Mayfield Merger sees a positive surge in M & A activity for the start of the year and provides some pointers for organisers looking to sell
After the relatively fallow years of
2020 and 2021 where M & A activity was about 50 % of the normal level , the number of reported transactions increased from 40 in 2021 to 54 in 2022 with the number of buyers increasing from 27 to 36 over the same period . This is still well below historic levels , due to a combination of almost no deals in China and low activity across South East Asia and the need for potential sellers to get back to at least 2019 levels of profitability before going to market .
2023 has started strongly with seven transactions reported so far and with China re-opening we can expect to see a return to M & A there as well . In addition to this , the number of inbound enquiries at Mayfield-towers , has also jumped significantly . January is always a busy month for entrepreneurs asking for advice on whether to sell or not as they re-assess their priorities for the coming year . This January has been particularly busy and we have found ourselves regularly advising entrepreneurs not to try and sell their business now .
Don ’ t try and sell too early Several of our calls have been from businesses that have run only one or two editions of their event and one was for a business that has yet to run the launch edition . We ’ ve only ever sold two businesses after the first event – World Future Energy Summit to Reed in 2008 and Counter Terror Expo to Clarion in 2009 – and both had unique characteristics that made this possible .
In general , buyers need to see a track record with consistent growth for the event . This means a minimum of three editions in order to show both proof of concept and to establish the event so that it ’ s clear that it has loyalty and is the market leading event for the sector and geography in which it operates .
Mayfield has handled nine transactions since the market reopened post Covid and every one of these were businesses that have been developed over several years . Open Room Events , the 1-2-1 business that we sold to CloserStill Media in January , started life in 2004 . The first edition of Northern Restaurant and Bar , acquired by Diversified Communications at the end of 2022 , was in 2000 . Both businesses have been painstakingly built by the owners over the years [ read more about NRB p21 ].
What buyers look for today is quality of data and depth of relationships with the sector ’ s community . The business modeI that monetises this , whether it ’ s an exhibition , conference , confex , summit
12 — Spring