Dealmakers
Steve Monnington
Managing Director
Mayfield Media Strategies
Dealmakers
rivate Equity money is still driving acquisition
activity in the exhibition sector.
CloserStill Media was acquired by Providence Equity
Partners in December 2018 – their fourth private
equity owner in the 10 years since they were founded. It has
taken a while for them to start deploying their capital but they
have made two acquisitions in the last couple of months. The
acquisition of two eCommerce shows and two 1-2-1 eForums
acquired from E World marks their first move into Spain and
paves the way for a roll out of their other technology brands
there. It also adds to their portfolio of eCommerce events in the
UK and Asia which started with the acquisition of eCommerce
Expo along with Technology for Marketing form UBM in 2017
which was followed by the eCommerce geo-clone into Singapore.
They have followed this by partnering with Healthcare
Publishing and Events, organiser of the Diabetes Professional
Care exhibition and conference (DPC) - the UK’s leading show
for healthcare professionals involved in the treatment and
management of diabetes - which will become part of their
growing portfolio of healthcare events. DPC was launched in
2015 and follows the Closer Still model of free CPD accredited
education for the professionals which has driven the creation of
a large exhibition of healthcare vendors to the sector. DPC was
created by Maggie Meer who also launched Cloud Expo Europe
which she sold to Closer Still in 2011 and which has driven the
growth of their cluster of tech shows both in the UK and abroad.
One of the previous owners of Closer Still was Phoenix
Equity who sold their stake in 2015. They spent over three years
monitoring the market for their next deal and bought into
Nineteen Events in late 2018. They have now made their second
acquisition, buying Broden Media, organiser of the Emergency
Services Show and publisher of Emergency Services Times
magazine. Nineteen are focused on Security, Health and Safety,
Fire, Facilities and Disaster Response events so this fits perfectly
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
into their existing portfolio.
There is a natural assumption that Private Equity participation
guarantees big investment returns for all and that is certainly the
case so far for CloserStill Media and Clarion Events. However, it’s
not always a guarantee of success as the acquisition of Emerald by
Onex in 2013 and the subsequent public listing in 2017 shows, with
the share price having declined from $19.50 to just above $10. In the
UK there was the Living Bridge acquisition of Upper Street Events
in 2014 and the subsequent sale at a loss to Immediate Media in
January 2019 shows. Ocean Media has also had a variety of Private
Equity involvement since the MBO from Trinity Mirror in 2006
and has been on a bit of a roller coaster in terms of valuations with
£104m (US$128.5m) paid by Ion Equity and the management at
its height in 2017, considerably more than the valuation that the
company would attract now.
Transactions this period:
Buyer
Business
Country Sector
Nineteen Events Broden Media UK Emergency Services
Malo Events Digital Kids Show UK Tech
Media Business Insight BVE UK Broadcast
Closer Still Media Healthcare Publishing
& Events UK Healthcare
CloserStill Media eShows Spain e-Commerce
Messe Dusseldorf Saw Expo Germany Industrial
Fiera Milano MADE Eventi (60%) Italy Construction
Nurnberg Messe Forum (80%) Greece Food/Hospitality
Messe Frankfurt Busworld India (license) India Transport
Angus Montgomery
Art India Art Fair India Art
Informa ISSA North America USA Cleaning
Issue 5 2019
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