M & A
PE activity signals confidence in F2F
Grimes, McGovern & Associates( GMA) CEO and owner John McGovern explains why we should care about the role of private equity in exhibitions M & A
hat is private equity and
W why should we care?” are questions we get asked a lot by exhibition organisers. Briefly, the reason independent show and association organisers should care is that private equity( PE) is a big player within our industry. They invest in portfolio companies / platforms with a planned exit 5-8 years later at a profit. During that time, PE firms normally invest a substantial amount of capital to grow and build value in the platform, generally by focusing on organic growth and growth via acquisition, particularly of independently owned show organisers. Some of the larger PE-owned platforms include Arc Network,
Clarion Events, CloserStill Media, EasyFairs, Globus Events, Nineteen Group, and Trifecta Collective. Compare that with only three public companies in exhibitions: Emerald, Informa, and RX. There are presently 40 + PE firms globally, which is a significant number for the size of our industry. In fact, 20 of them have entered the exhibition market since Covid. Of the 40 +, 80 % are from the United States, the rest are from the UK and elsewhere around the world. The entrance of so many PE firms into our industry indicates a lot of
Major M & A Q1 2025
• CloserStill Media acquiring Digital Health Intelligence
• Trifecta acquiring Canadian Concrete Expo
• Turnmill Limited acquiring Dealmakers Forums
• Emerald acquiring Plant Based World( JD Events)
• Emerald acquiring This is Beyond
Above: John McGovern
Left: There ' s an estimated $ 370bn in ' dry powder ' – uninvested capital confidence in the face-to-face live events business. They are attracted to the cashflow characteristics, the margins and the scalability. These firms want to invest in both platforms and bolt-ons( independent, association expos or hosted buyer events that fit with key industry sectors of those platforms). As we go to press, with all PE firms globally invested in events, there’ s an estimated $ 370bn in‘ dry powder’, a term used to describe uninvested capital. Of that, 85 % or $ 317bn is from US firms. That’ s a lot of unspent money. For the UK, there are particularly active portfolio companies who also want to acquire bolt-ons. While it’ s a smaller share than the US, it’ s commensurate in terms of the size of the US vs UK economies. We think PE involvement in the exhibition industry is a positive thing because it:
• Provides for a way to inject a significant amount of capital into the market
• Creates value( growth of companies, expos and industries)
• Helps attract and pay for great talent.
PE also helps independent and association show organisers who sell their shows as bolt-ons accomplish goals of expanding and growing their expos and events to the next level, or, if they prefer, exit the business at the right time. Activity for the first quarter of 2025 has been a bit slower than Q4 2024. For the rest of this year, we expect to see a healthy bolt-on market and a couple of PE firms bringing their platforms to market, which will bring new or returning PE firms into the market as owners. EW
n Grimes, McGovern & Associates is a leading lower middle-market Mergers & Acquisitions firm advising media, events, and information services businesses globally.
www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 2 2025 11