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Clarion buys Quartz Events

After almost six months of trade show torpor, M&A is slowly coming back to life. London-based Clarion Events has acquired the 12-year-old Quartz Events,  a California-based producer of invitation-only “executive summits” across cyber-security, finance, logistics and IT. The price, which has not been disclosed, is believed to be a tiny fraction of the estimated $80m+ Clarion was days away from finalising when Covid struck in March.

In 2019, Quartz is believed to have made some $6-8m EBITDA on revenue of some $50m with forecasts for $18m profit in 2020. When the company first became involved in sale negotiations, owner-founder Toby Harris (a former DMGT executive) was believed to be seeking a price of $120m.

Since Quartz has not run any live events since the abortive deal in March, it is assumed that the Clarion consideration largely comprises an earn-out.

Quartz self-describes an “innovative model and technology stack connecting department heads with relevant solution providers through a curated and white glove experience. They have recently pivoted their offerings to include Virtual Summits facilitating tens of thousands of meetings over video conference.”

The 73-year-old Clarion Events (owned since 2017 by Blackstone) operates some 180 events in 50 countries. According to AMR, it is the world’s fourth largest exhibition organiser after Informa, Reed, and Messe Frankfurt.

This week’s acquisition (and its previous aborted deal) is a reminder of just how recently exhibition companies were changing hands for multiples of 10-15 x EBITDA. Nobody expects an early return to those multiples or, indeed, the profits themselves.

This small Clarion deal may signal the re-start of consolidation M&A in exhibitions, especially during first-half 2021. That’s when the industry has to contend with revived expenditure but only a very gradual return to “normality” and, perhaps, reduced profit margins in a world changed by lost events, travel inhibitions, and Zoom.

The expected slow recovery will pressure exhibitions companies, large and small, whose investors have assumed a return to “normal” profits in 2022.

Clarion Events