Steve Monnington Managing director Mayfield Media Strategies
Dealmakers
Steve Monnington of Mayfield Mergers casts his eye over the M & A landscape
I n previous post-Covid columns I ’ ve talked about the likelihood of strategic plays by some of the larger organisers as a means to non-acquisition growth . One such move has come from dmg events which , post-Covid-19 , arise driving forward with a significant programme of launches , especially in Saudi Arabia which is fast becoming a key geography for them . dmg has formed a joint venture – ostensibly 50 / 50 – with the Dubai World Trade Centre ( DWTC ) for the joint launch of several shows initially in Food , Hospitality and Interiors . The JV name is Kaoun and the thinking is to harness the strength of DWTC ’ s key brands and combine them with dmg ’ s ‘ boots on the ground ’ to create a series of new events in Saudi which can then be spun out into other countries such as South Africa , Nigeria and Egypt .
The first joint event will be The Saudi Food & Beverage Show & The Saudi Food Manufacturing Show in Riyadh in June , 2023 , which will be affiliated to DWTC ’ s GULFOOD Global . As a further development , The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia will be rebranded for 2023 to include the broader hospitality , HORECA and interiors market . it ’ s expected that the JV will be extended over time to cover other sectors .
It ’ s 16 months since Simon Foster announced that he had secured financial backing from EagleTree Capital for his new global events business , Arc , and just over a year since they made their first acquisition – Farmers Guardian and the Lamma trade exhibition for agriculture machinery . They recently announced their fifth deal ( and their first in the USA ) again in the Agriculture sector in a move that brings their total headcount worldwide to 240 people .
HighQuest , runs a series of agriculture investment conferences in New York , Tokyo and London for investors , fund and farmland managers and agribusiness executives as well as a membership platform for Women in Agriculture as well as producing research for the sector .
Euromoney Institutional Investor , owner of the Euromoney
brand , has agreed to sell the entire business to two PE firms – Epiris and Astorg . The offer values the business at £ 1.7bn ( US $ 1.95bn ), a multiple of 20x 2022 EBITDA . The joint bid will result in the business being split in two with Astorg taking the Price Reporting Agency business and Epiris taking everything else , including the Euromoney brand . Although the events side of the Euromoney business is tiny , the deal may focus Epiris ’ mind on some follow-on deals which could involve exhibition / conference organisers with related brands .
Informa has made some sizeable changes to its portfolio ( although exhibitions remain untouched ). In comes US business publisher Industry Dive acquired from Falfuriass Capital for £ 323m ( US $ 371m ) and out goes Lloyds List Intelligence ( or 80 % of it ) sold to Montagu Private Equity for £ 308m ( US $ 353.8m ). Industry Dive was launched in 2012 and has developed into daily and weekly publications across 27 brands including BioPharma , Banking , Cyber Security and Supply Chain with 13 million readers . Informa will create added value in two main ways – the creation of in-person and online events for the existing brands and the creation of new Industry Dive brands from Informa ’ s existing portfolio . The acquisition will be run as a stand alone business reporting into the Informa Tech Division .
Transactions and partnerships this period . Buyer Business Country Sector
Epiris / Astorg Informa Arc Group
Marketplace Events Marketplace Events
William Reed BPA dmg / DWTC Hyve Management
Euromoney Industry Dive
HighQuest |
USA |
PA Home & Garden Expo |
USA |
Louisville Home & Garden show
Allegra Group Vsef New JV Premier Expo
Global USA
USA
UK UK Saudi Arabia Ukraine
Finance Various Agriculture
Home Home
Coffee Event Tech Food & Hospitality Various
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 5 2022 11