Steve Monnington managing director Mayfield Media Strategies
Dealmakers
t ’ s been four months since my last column and a look below at the transactions that have happened during that time tells us what a difficult time organisers are having . In the seven-month period March to September last year there were 44 transactions . In the same period this year there were just 14 , but it ’ s the type of transaction and the buyers that are striking . These are primarily single show acquisitions from either small independent organisers or associations . Large M & A transactions are non-existent as buyers are reluctant to take a chance on when exhibitions will take place and , when they do , how affected they will be by continuing restrictions on international travel .
The round up of transactions usually features buys from Informa , Reed , Clarion , Comexposium , Tarsus and Easyfairs , but they are all absent here . The transactions we are seeing are primarily opportunistic purchases and several are undoubtedly as a result of the financial pressures of Covid .
In this column a few months ago I highlighted the financial challenges that associations are facing , especially where the exhibition they own provides a significant part of the income needed to run their membership activities and I suggested that we could expect to see some acquisitions as a result – with either an outright sale or as a joint venture with one of the larger organisers that already has shows in their sector .
The Massachussetts Restaurant Association was forced to cancel their New England Food Show ( NEFS ), the largest regional tradeshow for the food service sector due to take place in March this year and the next edition will not be held until February 2021 .
At the beginning of May , the Exposition Development Group ( ExpoDevCo ) acquired 50 % ownership of NEFS bringing additional tradeshow experience to the event . Last month Emerald Expositions acquired the Atlantic Bakery Expo , the largest bakery tradeshow and conference in the Eastern USA from the New York State Association of Manufacturing Retail Bakers and the New Jersey Bakers Board of Trade . The event will be rebranded as Artisan Bakery Expo East . It will co-locate with
Pizza & Pasta North East , the largest annual tradeshow for East Coast independent pizzeria owners which was launched in 2017 following their 2015 acquisition of International Pizza Expo .
What can we expect from M & A over the next few months ? I would suggest that we will see more of the same – more deals involving association-owned shows and more small single show acquisitions . In time we may also start to see another effect of Covid , with some of the larger organisers reviewing their portfolios and the effect of the decrease in staff resources due to redundancies and selling off non-core shows . It won ’ t be until we see the resumption of the transactions that were put on hold in March that there will be a clear indication that sentiment is changing and that there is some light at the end of this very long dark tunnel .
Transactions this period ( since March 2020 )
Buyer Business Country Sector
dmg events dmg events GL Events GL Events ExpoDevCo Emerald
Allured Business Media
Redd Marketing Montgomery
Messe Munich Messe Munich IEG Lupa Systems Messe Frankfurt
CWC Group Addisbuild Clinical Lab Expo Tranoi NEFS Atlanta Bakery Show
Creative Age
CCMA
European Tea and Coffee show
Glasstech Asia Roofing Expo Dubai Muscle Show Investment into MCH Group Hobby-X
Global Ethiopia China France USA USA
USA
UK UK
Thailand China Dubai Switzerland South Africa
Energy Construction Medical Fashion Food Food Beauty
Contact Centre
Food
Construction Construction Fitness Portfolio Hobby / Crafts
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 5 2020 13