fter 33 years in events you must have seen some changes . What were your key experiences ? Yes , I went to work for my father in 1987 after a period at Jaguar- Rover . I had seen UK manufacturing decline under Margaret Thatcher and was happy to switch to services , taking advantage of the much promoted ‘ Single Market ’ to develop tradeshows around Europe . It was easy to recruit foreign nationals in the UK , and we benefited from globalisation and growth of world trade . With the opening of China , India , South America , Eastern Europe , the Arabian Gulf and S . E . Asia we could develop the business in all corners of the globe , but Central Europe was where we had most success . Running my first show

there in 1993 , I saw China grow from next to nothing to a leading geography for tradeshows .

I saw , too , the arrival of UK and US-led financial engineering of the events industry , with PLCs then private equity taking hold . Everything became about leverage , multiples , acquisitions and scale , but we pretty much stuck to launch and hold . When I started , intellectual property rights and trademarks for events were not well established . The idea you could value a non-balance sheet asset like an exhibition was unproven , and selling ownership of an event was unimaginable . But that all changed in the 1990s .

The 2000s were defined by the rise of Internet-based technologies , which had an unexpectedly positive impact on event organising .

Below : Selling ownership of an event was ‘ unimaginable ’ pre-1990s , says Stephen Brooks

What made you sell your business part way through 2019 ? It was tough after so long , but I figured the tide of increasing valuations was bound to turn at some point . In particular , I thought private equity backed acquisitions didn ’ t add up any longer . It felt like a valuation bubble based upon cheap money , tax breaks , executive incentives , and PE companies selling to each other at ever increasing multiples . It didn ’ t feel rational from an investor perspective . Strangely enough this turned out to be the case , but not for the reasons I imagined .

What have you done since you sold the business ? I ’ ve invested in a variety of nonevent businesses , spent more time in Antibes , and completed a masters degree in history .