Dealmakers
“When PE acquires
a business, it tries
to deploy as much
acquisition capital as
early as possible in the
first 12 months of their
ownership in order
to get the maximum
amount of growth
before exiting.”
Steve Monnington
Managing Director
Mayfield Media Strategies
Dealmakers
here’s always speculation about how long Private
Equity firms intend to hold their investment in an
exhibition company before exiting, and often these
sale decisions are unrelated to the actual investment.
Ironically, if a business has performed exceptionally well, it could
be sold earlier than originally planned in order to boost results
for the overall fund and counteract other, underperforming,
assets. That said, I think we have a new record for the shortest
period of time a business has been held. Lloyds Development
Capital, which in the past owned the NEC, acquired conference
producer FC Business Intelligence (FCBI) at the end of August
2018 and has now sold it on to Thomson Reuters a little over 13
months later.
FC Business Intelligence will become part of Reuters Events
and one suspects some management pressure as Reuters is
clearly a much more strategic fit for the FCBI team than straight
PE ownership.
When Private Equity acquires a business, it tries to deploy
as much acquisition capital as early as possible in the first 12
months of its ownership, in order to get the maximum amount of
growth before exiting.
We generally see a spike in acquisition activity shortly after the
deal - and we can see this with both Tarsus and CloserStill Media.
Following their de-listing as a plc and acquisition by
Charterhouse, Tarsus has announced two new deals – in China
and Egypt. The China acquisition saw them acquire 70% of
Shenzhen Zhong Xin Cai Exhibition Company, owner of Touch
China & 3D Glass Expo, creating a 6th Chinese JV for them. It is the
company’s first entry into the electronics sector – one of the new
sectors where it aims to deploy the Charterhouse capital. Touch
China is in competition with Reed’s C-Touch and Display, which
Reed acquired in 2015 from a local organiser.
Meanwhile, Tarsus has created Tarsus Egypt as a joint venture
with Amr Shawki, Chairman of local organiser, Egytec. Shawki
has launched many exhibitions in Egypt over the years and
he sold his Electricx, Mefsec (Fire & Security) and Solar-Tec
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
exhibitions to Informa in 2014.
Initially Tarsus Egypt will concentrate on replicating shows from
its portfolio, the first of which will be Zuchex Cairo. Tarsus acquired
Zuchex in Turkey when it bought 70% of Life Medya in 2012 (and
subsequently acquired the remaining 30%). We can expect to see
other replications from its Turkish and Middle East portfolio and no
doubt some acquisitions too.
CloserStill, which is less than a year into ownership by Providence
Equity, has made its third acquisition in as many months and its
second in Spain, acquiring 80% of Interalia, which runs Infarma –
the leading tradeshow for the pharmacy sector. The show alternates
between Madrid and Barcelona. Having acquired two eCommerce
shows and two 1-2-1 eForums from E World a couple of months ago,
we should expect the roll out of more CloserStill brands into Spain in
both healthcare and tech.
Transactions during the two months to November 2019:
Buyer
Business
Country Sector
Reuters FC Business Intelligence Global Various
Easyfairs Futurebuild UK Construction
Easyfairs Packaging Premiere Italy Packaging
IEG FINMAST Italy Textiles
EMZ Partners Weyou France Portfolio
HMP Provascular Germany Medical
Closerstill Media Infarma Spain Healthcare
Clarion MAU USA Marketing
Comexposium RemaxWorld China Office Supplies
Tarsus Touch China China Electronics
Tarsus Egytec (JV) Egypt Housewares
Deutsche Messe Legal/HR Innovation Australia/NZ Tech
XPO Events 9 shows from North Point NZ Various
Issue 6 2019
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