Emerald buys tech events. Who will buy it?

Events. The largest US-owned exhibitions organiser, Emerald Expositions has acquired a group of tech shows from EH Media for $28m. The events include: Total Tech Summit; CEPro; Commercial Integrator; Security Sales & Integration and Campus Safety. The deal serves to focus attention on Emerald whose ancestry includes VNU, Bill Communications, Miller Freeman US,Nielsen, Onex and George Little. The $1.2bn quoted company, which has more than 55 trade shows (32 of which it describes as “large”), has been highly acquisitive but its shares have crashed 26% in the past year and are now some 5% below the 2017 IPO price. With attractive EBITDA profit margins of 45%, the problem is sluggish revenue growth. Blackstone, which bought the UK-based Clarion Events for £600m this time last year, is looking to build a world leader in exhibitions. It would love to get its hands on Reed Exhibitions when (if) it is put up for sale by RELX, the UK-based information parent. But, if Emerald’s shares continue to under-perform, the US group could become an easier target. A Clarion-Emerald ‘merger’ would become one of the the world’s five largest exhibition organisers with strong and growing positions in the US, UK and Asia. It would actually be the third largest independent organiser after Informa and Reed. Blackstone must surely be doing the sums.