NEWS
THE MONTH
IN NUMBERS
500 million
– People potentially affected by
Marriott hack
6%
- Increase in visitor numbers to World
Travel Market London 2018
127
– Events at RSA House following
relaunch of its vaults
4,000
– Attendees at medical aesthetics
show CCR Expo
8
14%
- Like-for-like growth rate for ITE Group’s
top 10 shows
Quote/
Unquote
“We would urge
parliamentarians to get
behind this deal, as a no deal
Brexit would have disastrous
consequences for our industry.
Until a deal is confirmed,
businesses need to continue
preparing for all eventualities”
UKinbound chairman
Mark McVay on the Brexit
withdrawal agreement
January 2019 | exhibitionnews.co.uk
Acquisitions and investment for Nineteen Group
Nineteen Group has announced the
acquisition of Western Business Exhibitions
(WBE) along with investment from private
equity firm Phoenix Equity Partners.
The two organisers previously announced
a collaboration for the 2019 launch of WBE
show The Security Event.
The acquisition adds to Nineteen Group’s
existing security events, which include
the International Security Expo and the
International Disaster Response Expo.
Western Business Exhibitions will add ten
events, including The Fire Safety Event and
The Health & Safety Event, and seven trade
publications to the Nineteen Group portfolio.
The investment from Phoenix will
enable the organiser to grow significantly,
providing funding to further expand existing
exhibitions, launch new exhibitions and
make strategic acquisitions similar to that of
WBE.
Kevin Keck, partner at Phoenix, said: “The
trade exhibitions market is highly attractive,
and we have spent a lot of time searching
for the right opportunity to invest in the sector
again.
“We are delighted to be backing the
outstanding team at Nineteen Group.”
Providence acquires CloserStill Media for £340m
CloserStill Media has been acquired by
Providence Equity Partners, the previous owner
of Clarion Events, for a reported £340m.
The move comes after years of significant
growth for the organiser, which was valued at
£25m in 2012 when Phoenix Private Equity
bought into the company and £125m in 2015
when Inflexion bought a minority stake.
Since the Inflexion investment in 2015 the
organiser has made eight acquisitions – five
in 2017 and three in 2018 – but CloserStill
Chairman and CEO Phil Soar highlighted that
the majority of the company’s growth has been
organic. Much of the growth has come from
the geo-cloning of successful shows in Asia,
Germany and the US, with the launch of events
such as Cloud Asia, Learning Technologies
Germany and New York Vet.
Soar added: “We are very pleased to
partner with Providence, who have extensive
experience in our industry, and whom we have
known for many years. Providence have a
superb track record in supporting the growth
of businesses, not least in the trade show
industry. It’s been a very successful sector for
them and they understand it extremely well.”
He declined to comment on the reported sale
price.
In 2011, Providence acquired George Little
Management in the US, which was then sold to
Emerald Expositions in early 2014. In 2017, the
company sold Clarion Events to Blackstone for
a reported £600m.
“We have 171 employees who are
shareholders and who will benefit, and they
will all become shareholders in the new
company going forwards,” concluded Soar,
adding that the CloserStill management team
would remain the same with the company’s
new owner.