It has been an unprecedented month in events M&A with record investments and 13 transactions, a new Private Equity player, and including three new geographic plays. As reported in Flashes & Flames this week, the deals mark The Trade Show Big Bang, which promises much more.
A vote of confidence from Private Equity
In the space of just 4 weeks, over $5.5bn has been invested by private equity firms in some of the biggest organisers.
- CloserStill Media – acquired for $1.77bn by a new fund from existing owner Providence Equity Partners with Searchlight Capital Partners joining as co-investor.
- Emerald Holding – acquired for $1.5bn by Apollo Funds
- Questex – acquired by Apollo Funds for an undisclosed amount (but presumed to be $400mn – $500mn). Questex will be merged with Emerald
- Hyve Group – acquired by Hellman & Friedman (H&F) for $1.8bn.
The three main transactions are all in the top four valuations of all time ,behind Informa’s £3.8bn acquisition of UBM in early 2018 and all within the space of four weeks – and with a lot of international unrest in the world. This is a massive vote of confidence in live events from the investment community.
The theme coming through strongly from private equity after the market meltdown at the beginning of February this year is AI related. They are looking at what defensive plays they can make where they are not going to be materially exposed to AI, and events businesses are high on that list. Combine this with the tailwinds that AI are bringing to events and we can see why pe firms are prepared to pay punchy multiples for high growth, high quality event assets.
Providence’s positive experience in CloserStill since 2018 will have played a big part in its decision to remain as a CloserStill shareholder and co-invest alongside Searchlight. Although H&F was a previous investor in Advanstar and Nielsen, Apollo is investing in events for the first time and its priority now is to merge and integrate two very different businesses.
Emerald’s portfolio is primarily large exhibitions, including some consumer events and with some B2B events in the traditional retail sector which are more prone to downturn. Questex operates in the Life Sciences/Healthcare, Hospitality, Wellness and Technology sectors with the majority of the events operating as “confexes” and with a very strong digital element to the business which accounts for 25% of total revenue. The challenge will be to add value beyond cost-saving synergies, although both businesses are predominantly US based so we could see a more diverse geographical expansion.
The other challenge for all the buyers is whether the supply of founder-led businesses for follow-on M&A will be sufficient to help them achieve their growth targets. Typically, when a new PE firm takes over the reins, it wants to deploy capital as quickly as possible and – with three new investor funds all looking to quickly acquire at the same time, along with other buyers such as EasyFairs and Nineteen Group – there will be a lot of competition for a limited number of assets. Last year, 67% of all transactions were founder-led businesses. At some stage, demand will outstrip supply.
A big win for Hanson Wade
UK private equity firm Graphite Capital originally acquireda majority stake in London-based global conference and information provider Hanson Wade for £95m through a management buyout in August 2019. This was their first investment in the events sector and within 6 months when COVID hit, they saw the portfolio of events they had acquired being systematically cancelled. While the events side of the business stopped, Beacon – their clinical trials database – grew rapidly and over the last four years has accounted for almost all the growth in the business.
Beacon has now been sold to Corton Capital for an estimated £250m – £300m meaning that Graphite has already achieved a significant return on its original overall investment and it will still own the events businesses which mainly comprise conferences for the life science, construction (datacenter and construction engineering in the US) and HR sectors.
The question now is whether Graphite go for a complete breakup of the business (although there are a lot of very small events) or retain, invest, acquire and grow.
Easyfairs expands in Belgium
Easyfairs Belgium has announced its intention to launch a voluntary and conditional public takeover bid for all shares issued by Xpo Group BV, formerly known as Kortijk Xpo. In addition to operating the venue itself (the 3rd largest venue in Belgium), Xpo Group organises more than 60 shows each year, covering a wide range of industries including construction, interior design, sustainability, marketing & communication, food, retail, and technology. In 2025, the overall group reported revenue of €56mn and an EBITDA of €10mn. The offer is subject to approval by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) but is supported by the Xpo management.
Largest deal for Marketplace Events
US based Marketplace Events (MPE) has acquired Travel & Adventure Shows, the only consumer-facing travel trade shows in the US from Unicomm in what is the largest acquisition in its history. Unicomm was founded in 1998 by John Golicz who has built the business into 10 shows across the US.
MPE has consistently been one of the most acquisitive organisers over the years. Sentinel Capital Partners owed the business from 2016 and made approx. 13 acquisitions before selling to Clarion Capital Partners in January 2025. Since then, a further 5 acquisitions have made including this latest transaction.
Messe Stuttgart grows in India
Messe Stuttgart has acquired Cable & Wire Fair, held annually in New Delhi and Wire & Cable India magazine from Tulip 3P Media. Tulip also runs the Tube and Pipe Fair and the Mommy and Baby Fair. Messe Stuttgart set up their India business in 2023 acquiring DIDAC India (Education), launching Fastnex and Moldex India through a partnership with the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association and geo-cloning their LogiMAT brand.
In other news…
Market research and consulting firm Nimdzi Insights has acquired Localisation World, organiser of the LocWorld, one of the language industry’s primary gathering places since 2003 with the next events taking place in Dublin and Vancouver.
Funding platform Founderpath has acquired SaaStock’s US and European conference operations and will rebrand the events as AI Growth Summit. The acquisition adds a live events arm to Founderpath’s existing ecosystem of non-dilutive SaaS financing, a 65,000-subscriber newsletter, and a podcast with more than 15 million downloads. Founderpath has been a sponsor of SaaStock for the last four years.
Three geographical strategic plays
Indonesia
Koelnmesse has established a joint venture with Indonesia organiser AMARA Expo as its first dedicated company in Indonesia. The JV, named PT Nine Koeln Indonesia, will formalise in one company a show specific partnership that started with IDEC (Dental), launched in 2017 followed by interzum (furniture production) and International Hardware Fair (Hardware & DIY). In 2026, the JV will also hold IFMAC WOODMAC (furniture and woodworking) and IFFINA+ powered by IMM cologne (furniture and Interiors).
Hong Kong
Informa has signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Hong Kong Tourism Board to establish a strategic partnership to bring international exhibitions to Hong Kong. This is not an equity JV but an alliance that will leverage Informa brands with new launches aimed at high-end MICE tourism under an umbrella identity of “The Festival of Connoisseurs” in key sectors such as supercars, yachts, jewellery and watches, premium travel and private aviation as well as wellness services and products. The launch will be in November 2026.
Manta Media Capital, the accelerator and investment firm has set up Manta Middle East in advance of the market reopening. Manta is the brainchild of Toby Duckworth who co-founded 121 Partners which was sold to Hyve in 2021 and also includes investment from events entrepreneur Douglas Emslie.
