Dealmakers
Steve Monnington
Managing Director
Mayfield Media Strategies
Dealmakers
here were 87 announced exhibition M&A transactions
in 2018, the highest number since we started tracking
deal activity in 2010. There were 53 different purchasers
which was also a new high. The value of transactions
was also at its highest in 2018 thanks to the Informa/UBM deal.
As well as the number of buyers increasing, the type of buyer has
also changed. Back in 2012, the two main buyers were Reed and
UBM. Adding in Informa for consistency now that they own UBM,
between them they acquired 25 businesses (36% of the total 2012
transactions). In 2018 the comparative number was 11 (13.5%).
In contrast, the main Private Equity owned organisers - Clarion,
CloserStill, Comexposium and Emerald (which is still 65% owned by
Onex despite being publicly quoted) made no acquisitions in 2012
and peaked at 19 in 2017 (28%) when they were in full acquisition
mode although this dropped to nine in 2018 as Clarion and
Comexposium started to concentrate on larger deals.
There has also been a significant change in the geographical
make-up of acquisitions. Five years ago the internationalisation
of emerging markets was in full swing with private companies in
Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, China and South East Asia being snapped up
by the international organisers. Now, the emerging market activity
has quietened down, partly because of economic conditions in
countries such as Brazil and Turkey and partly because there are
very few good businesses to buy in those markets.
The key transactions in 2018 were:
• The acquisition of UBM by Informa for approximately £4bn
(US$5.14bn) with the combined business leapfrogging Reed to
become the world’s largest organiser
• ITE’s acquisition of the Ascential Exhibitions for £300m which
required a share rights issue to fund it
• The acquisition of the Birmingham NEC Group by Blackstone for
approximately £810m.
• The acquisition of Pennwell by Clarion for US$300m which
was followed by 100 redundancies at Pennwell’s head office and
speculation that their publishing business will be sold
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
• The changes in PE ownership of CloserStill Media (from Inflexion to
Providence) and Questex (from Shamrock to Mid Ocean)
In terms of outlook for 2019, here are some things I expect to happen:
• Continuing offloading of non-core exhibitions from some of the
larger organisers. We already saw UBM sell a number of exhibitions
at the end of 2017 and ITE sell their two Malaysian businesses, plus
a chunk of their smaller Russia shows, and we understand that
Centaur intend to dispose of three of their main exhibition divisions.
• At least one more PE firm will enter the exhibition market, acquire
a platform business and embark on a buy and build strategy.
• We will see an acquisition or investment from a non-traditional
business, probably data-driven.
• Multiples will remain high, underpinned by PE buyers.
It looks like 2019 will be another busy year for M&A with no doubt
a few surprises along the way.
Buyer Business Country Sector
Reed Exhibitions Mack Brooks UK Industrial
Providence CloserStill Media UK Healthcare/Tech
Phoenix Equity Nineteen Events UK Security
Nineteen Events Western Business Exhibitions UK Security
Diversified Comms Digital Construction week UK Construction
ITE Learnit UK Education
Messe Frankfurt The Clean Show USA Textiles
Gemspring Capital Bobit Business Media USA Automotive
Credit Agricole Comexposium France Portfolio
Reed Exhibitions Shanghai Forever China Automotive
Speciality Graphic
Imaging Association Graphics of the Americas USA Printing
Issue 1 2019
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