DEALMAKERS company unlocks capital that private equity wants ( and needs ) to deploy and Money 2020 must be high on the acquisition wishlist , especially since Ascential announced the results of their strategic review and embarked on the sale of WGSN , their consumer data business . Money 2020 was acquired by Ascential when Mark Shashoua , now Hyve CEO , was CEO at what is now Ascential Events . Hyve has already acquired the Ascential exhibition portfolio in 2018 which brought them exhibitions such as Spring Fair , Autumn Fair and education brand BETT and were linked with an approach for Money 2020 back in 2021 . It will be fascinating to see how Providence deals with their dual investments in Hyve and CloserStill Media given that CloserStill are adding to their traditional healthcare and tech business sectors into areas such as jewellery while Hyve has been steadily restructuring their portfolio to the UK and USA and away from their original markets such as Russia , Kazakhstan , Azerbaijan and Turkey .
If you haven ’ t yet read Phil Soar ’ s recent column “ What happens when you start with a false assumption ?”, I would encourage you to do so . Skipping quickly over the lesson on erroneous syllogisms , Soar makes some very interesting observations about exhibitions vs other forms of media and regarding audience engagement , pricing and the measurability of the
A summary of transactions since February
Buyer Business Country Sector
Mark Allen Group Bonhill UK / Asia Finance
Most significant transaction so far brings MAG into the finance sector and plants the flag in Hong Kong and Singapore . Business needs revitalising though - something that MAG has proven to be very adept at with their other acquisitions .
Stable Events
Northern Shooting Show
UK
Leisure
LAPADA UK Antiques
Blenheim Horse Trials
UK
Equestrian
Triple acquisition from Richard Hease and James Gower brings their total number of events to seven . The acquisition of the Northern Shooting Show expands the Game Fair portfolio .
Emerald
Cocina Sabrosa Food & Beverage Expo
USA
Emerald aims to make the USA ’ s only dedicated Latin food and drink a national brand
KNOW Identity
CyberRisk Alliance
USA
Food
Cybersecurity
CyberRisk Alliance runs Identiverse , the leading tradeshow and conference for the identity community which they acquired from Ping Identity in 2021 . KNOW Identity is a highly influential event serving the digital identity community making this a highly synergistic acquisition . In October last year CyberRisk Alliance ( CRA ), acquired Cyber Security Summit ( CSS ) and TECHEXPO Top Secret , a leading provider of premium thought leadership and networking events for C-level leaders in cybersecurity and technology .
EagleTree Capital PRA USA Corporate Event
EagleTree Capital , owners of Arc , moves further into the events sector acquiring PRA from CI Capital who invested in the company in 2017 .
GL Events
Premiere Vision Association
France
Fashion
Acquisition of 51 % stake moves GL Events from long term minority shareholder to full ownership . At the end of April GL Events finalised the refinancing of their € 150m revolving credit facility and has also secured a new € 70m credit line which could pave the way to more acquisitions .
Live Nation Clockenflap Hong Kong Music Festival
Live Nation adds to its portfolio of music festivals in vote of confidence for Hong Kong .
effectiveness of media marketing spend . The exhibition sector seems to be misunderstood by almost everyone except those who work in it , something that was starkly apparent when engaging with the government during Covid . Having said that , go back to the top of this column and read the first paragraph again – we must be getting something right . EN
Summer — 17