It has been another busy month with eight transactions across the US, Germany, UK and the Middle East.
Over the past week, much has been written about the joint venture between Raccoon Media Group and Messe München to reinvent ISPO, the long-standing trade event for the sporting goods and outdoor industry.
The show’s KPIs tell a stark story. Following Covid, ISPO has continued to decline: compared with 2019, the 2024 edition recorded a 34% drop in exhibitors, 55% less net space, and 66% fewer visitors. While ISPO is still a substantial event, Raccoon is unlikely to have paid much for its stake, hence the €3mn investment programme targeting a combination of advocacy and not-for-profit organisations, a global hosted-buyer scheme, and an expanded content programme.
I expect Raccoon will eventually aim for 100% ownership, probably with an option to acquire the remaining shares at a reasonable market multiple, giving Messe München some upside.
The transaction is notable for two reasons:
- Scale and identity: It increases Raccoon’s size by some 50%, transforming it from a consumer-show organiser (famously founded in CEO Mike Seaman’s garden shed) into a trade event-led company.
- A German first: It marks the first time a German Messe has allowed a non-German organiser to control one of its brands – and move it out of its own halls, to Amsterdam RAI.
In Exhibition World, Kai Hattendorf highlighted the need for Germany’s Messes to shift from historically subsidised, state-owned models to diversified, globally-focused organisers. Emslie’s quote neatly captured both the challenge and opportunity: “With a new group of CEOs leading Germany’s trade fairs, there are fresh perspectives and new viewpoints on the industry and how it evolves. Munich is leading the way in its readiness and willingness to embrace the industry changes we see today.” As Hattendorf notes, unless other German shows embrace similar transformation, they risk the fate of Hanover’s CeBIT, Frankfurt’s Tendence, and Cologne’s Photokina — all now defunct.
Indeed, since the ISPO announcement last week, Messe Frankfurt has announced the realignment of its Prolight + Sound show: in 2026 it will take place as a dedicated area within Light + Building as it no longer has the numbers to support an independent show.
LBR Buys Legal Geek
Law Business Research (LBR) has acquired the Legal Geek 10-year-old portfolio of high-energy and world class legal-tech events, sometimes described as “the Glastonbury of legal”. Founded by Jimmy Vestbirk in 2015, Legal Geek operates four community-driven events: the flagship Legal Geek Conference and the Legal Geek Growth for SME law firms, both in London, Legal Geek North America in Chicago, and Legal Geek Europe, in Amsterdam. Vestbirk and co-director Beth Fellner is staying with the business to drive its next phase of growth.
The deal delivers a strong strategic fit following LBR’s merger with ALM, of the US, earlier in 2025. Legal Geek adds a highly-engaged, legal-tech community to a portfolio that already includes Legal Week, Women, Influence & Power in Law, and the IPBC (Intellectual Property Business Congress) series. The Legal Geek events, with their uniquely fun festival-style environment, a casual dress code and focus on community, add a new focus area of legal-tech for LBR and provide an expansion further into Europe and into the legal operations, technology and service provider markets.
Nineteen Group expands again
Nineteen Group, of the UK, has acquired PDS Promotions, organiser of the National Painting and Decorating Show. The show was launched in 1994 and the 2025 edition is expected to have some 230 exhibitors. For 2026, it is moving from the Coventry Building Society Arena (formerly the Ricoh Arena in the English West Midlands) to the National Exhibition Centre and will be co-located with InstallerShow which was itself acquired by Nineteen three years ago and made the same journey.
Messe Düsseldorf invests in Middle East
Messe Düsseldorf has acquired a stake in Dubai’s AccessAbilities Expo, organised by Nadd Al Shiba PR & Event Management. The seventh edition of the show, which focuses on assistive technologies for people with disabilities, was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre last month and reported 270 exhibitor companies and more than 17,000 visitors. Messe Düsseldorf has organised REHACARE in Germany since 1977 and will bring best international technologies and rehabilitation practices to the region.
Fourth investment for Events Venture Group
With the imminent launch of Manta Media Capital (previously covered in Flashes & Flames) and the increase in investment activity from the Events Venture Group (EVG), it seems that event entrepreneurs no longer need to go it alone. Hot on the heels of investments in Deep Tech Momentum and Explori, EVG has invested $750k in Stablecon, a high level conference focused on stablecoins (cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value) and the broader digital‑finance ecosystem. Stablecon is the brainchild of entrepreneur Nik Milanović who launched weekly newsletter This Week in Fintech, in 2019. The US event was launched earlier this year and the EVG investment is to fund the international expansion: Stablecon EMEA is scheduled for May 2026 in Amsterdam.
Questex expands healthcare and life science
M&A for Questex, of the US, is gathering pace. Following July’s acquisition of the event and media assets of Affordable Housing Finance and Multifamily Executive, it has announced two further deala – The Conference Forum and Versalinx Global Events, both operating in Questex’s core healthcare and life sciences sector. The Conference Forum was founded in 2011 by Valerie Bowling and Meredith Sands (both have now joined Questex) and organises six conferences covering clinical trials, immuno-oncology, patient treatment and drug delivery, most of which are in new areas of Biopharma for Questex.
Versalinx organises PMRC: three Pharma Market Research Conferences in New Jersey, San Francisco and Frankfurt together with two Pharma Competitive Intelligence Conferences in New Jersey and Frankfurt (the German event co-located with PMRC. The business was founded by Amy Yueh and was sold to global consulting firm Ducker Carlisle in 2018. Post-sale, Yueh continued to head the business and has also joined Questex.
S&P’s $1.8bn deal for With Intelligence
Last but not least and highlighting the price-earnings multiples that a predominantly analytics and data subscription business can achieve, the US listed financial information and analytics group S&P Global has agreed to acquire the UK-based, financial data provider and events firm With Intelligence for $1.8bn (£1.3bn) representing 13x Revenue and more than 30x EBITDA.
With Intelligence, focused on data covering hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and private credit, has had a remarkable valuation trajectory as it has rapidly moved from its origins as a B2B publisher to become a provider of high-value data.
| Year | Acquirer | Enterprise Value | EBITDA (est) |
| 2020 | ICG | £135mn | £10mn |
| 2023 | Motive | £410mn | £23mn |
| 2025 | S&P Global | £1.3bn | £38mn |
Looking forward to other likely major transactions next year, with the Clarion sale speculation now apparently quietened for the moment, the industry’s focus is likely to shift to CloserStill Media as the next logical private-equity exit.
