Most of the event buyers took a Summer holiday from M&A, so we have only three transactions to report this month. A rare break in the feeding frenzy which seems sure to resume shortly.
Yet more private equity
Bowmark Capital has joined the growing number of PE firms investing in the events sector, acquiring a majority shareholding in InfraXmedia, a B2B media, events and intelligence company serving the global digital infrastructure industry, from Opus Origin. Market intelligence from industry sources valued the transaction at approximately £275mn.
The back story: In early 2019, Stephen Brooks sold MackBrooks to Reed Exhibitions for a price, reported by Flashes & Flames at the time, as approximately £200mn. Nearly four years later, in 2022, Brooks set up Markets Dynamic Media (MDM), along with former Clarion chair Simon Kimble. Brooks deployed a small amount of his capital to acquire 80% of Data Center Dynamics (DCD) from Resolve Capital Partners and the management. The deal is believed to have valued DCD at some £20mn.
Focused on the data centre sector. DCD started out life in 1988 as a publishing business, before moving into training and conferences. As a result of COVID, greater emphasis was placed on digital content and the revenue (£8.4mn in 2021) split into 60% online (marketing, broadcast and interviews) and 40% from face-to-face training and events. At the time, Brooks told DealMakers that more acquisitions would follow and he would continue to focus on online driven businesses with tightly-defined niche communities that owned monetizable high-quality data.
MDM subsequently changed its name to InfraXmedia and, in late 2024, acquired a majority stake in DataCenter Nation (DCN) from Italian entrepreneurs Aldo Mazzocco and Davide Ortisi. In the short time since launching in 2021, DCN had established market-leading events in in Milan, Warsaw, Zurich, Dubai, and Riyadh. The InfraX portfolio also includes Yotta and SDxCentral. While DCD and DCN focus on physical datacenter facilities, Yotta covers energy and AI infrastructure, while SDxCentral (acquired in 2025) is a B2B digital media, news, and market intelligence platform covering enterprise IT, networking, cloud infrastructure, and software-defined technologies.
Bowmark has a long track record of investing in information services businesses and has been eying the exhibition sector for some time.
The investment vehicle for Brooks’ activities, which made this handsome RoI is Opus Origin and, in addition to owning InfraXMedia, it had acquired Cologne-based WHD Event in 2024, which remains under its ownership. WHD organises the tech festival Cloudfest, the event for the Cloud and Hosting sector, held at Europa-Park in Germany with an Americas version in Miami.
New Wellness group for Informa
Informa has acquired the Global Wellness Summit along with its non-profit research arm the Global Wellness Institute from founder, Susie Ellis. The business will become part of a newly-created Global Wellness Group within Informa’s Medical Division. The Summit changes host destinations every year and in 2026 (its 20th anniversary) will be held in Phuket, Thailand.
Munich Messe expands in India
Messe Muenchen India has acquired the India International Cargo Show from Upstream Business Solutions to add to its existing logistics portfolio – transport logistic India, air cargo India and project cargo India. The show was launched in 2022 and the next edition will be in December 2026 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. In addition to the flagship biennial German show transport logistic, its network of logistic events includes events in China, India, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and the U.S.
It’s not just the logistics sector in India that is attracting attention. Bowmark has shown the appetite for datacenter events with its acquisition of InfraXmedia and, now in India, Messe Meunchen India is joining forces with DMG events to launch AIX Dataworld, in Mumbai and Chennai, focusing on digital infrastructure.
Other news
There is a growing trend for exhibition entrepreneurs who have had their own successful exits to invest in founder-led businesses. These are often through established event investment platforms such as Events Venture Group (EVG) in the USA. Manta Media Capital is also soon to hit the news with its first investments. Aside from these, several of the same individuals who are involved in these platforms are quietly making their own personal investments.
Jay Weintraub, a co-founder and member of EVG, was co-founder of Insuretech Connect (acquired by Clarion) and Manifest (acquired by Hyve). Through his company, Connectiv, Weintraub has taken a stake in Premagic, the AI-driven event marketing platform which was founded in 2018 by Anup Mohan, Anenth Vishnu and Mevin Chirayath, becoming its first US-based investor. In the ultimate example of advocacy marketing, Connective has been using Premagic in its own business since May 2025 and rates it so highly that it wanted a piece of the action.
