To coincide with the new-look Exhibition World, each quarter I’ll cover in more detail a couple of acquisitions that took place that I think have particular strategic significance.
The two hottest markets in terms of internationalisation have been Brazil and Turkey and consolidation by the major players continues, although companies investing vary.
In Turkey, hot on the heels of Tarsus’ acquisition of IFO comes the news that ITE has acquired 60 per cent of YEMF, organiser of TurkeyBuild – the leading construction exhibition in Istanbul. The maximum amount payable for the initial 60 per cent stake is US$26.5m, which values the overall business today at $44m – quite chunky for a single sector play.
ITE has aspired to acquire TurkeyBuild for a while but the structure of YEMF with its large number
of shareholders and loss-making bookshop business has made it difficult. However, a restructure of the company to isolate the exhibitions and a continuing minority share involvement seems to have worked.
ITE, alongside Hannover Messe International, is the longest established international organiser operating in Turkey and this major move to consolidate its position in one of its core sectors demonstrates its belief in the continuing growth of the Turkish market. UBM, Tarsus, Messe Stuttgart, Clarion, Munichmesse and Bolognafiere have all entered Turkey in the last couple of years. There were a number of sizeable independent organisers based in Istanbul and all but two are now under foreign control as the market continues to internationalise.
In Brazil, Informa significantly added to its business with two acquisitions. Firstly it acquired Brasil Trade Shows from private equity fund DLJ South American Partners. The company, which was originally acquired by DLJ in 2007, runs exhibitions in the food, furniture and franchise sectors. These are not core Informa sectors so this seems to be more of a geographical play. The second acquisition, Ibratexpo who’s main event is Serigrafia, is more strategic and complements Informa’s IPEX, one of the largest print exhibitions. Maximum price is $132m.
This is the second-largest exhibition acquisition of the last few years after UBM’s acquisition of Canon Communications but it is certainly the largest I can remember in an emerging market. Brazil has many of the same characteristics as Turkey in terms of GDP growth, decent-sized venues and a good number of independent organisers with market-leading shows. Reed is the longest established international organiser operating in Brazil and recently added to its portfolio and UBM, Clarion, Informa and Fiera Milano have all been busy with acquisitions.
It will be interesting to watch these two markets develop in parallel and to see whether Reed or Informa join the rest of their friends in Turkey.
Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
