believe this is a concern in considering how attractive events companies are
as acquisition targets.
Transaction numbers
During the period January 2005 to June 2008, there were 149 events transactions.
Excluding the 2006 sale of VNU NV (now Nielsen) for $11.1 billion, these
transactions, including either a U.S. buyer or U.S. seller, combined for an estimated
value of $6.3 billion over the three-and-a-half-year period.
Figure 4: Events transactions by type: January 2005 – June 2008
Type Number
Exhibitions 71
Integrated B2B (publishing and events) 45
Conferences (including CME) 33
Total 149
Source: DeSilva + Phillips database
Of the total 149 transactions, 80% were B2B, including CME (Continuing Medical
Education), and 20% were consumer events.
Half of the transactions were private equity (including add-ons by private equity
platforms) and the other half were by strategic buyers. Associations are rarely
buyers.
The largest events-related transactions over this period of time were:
Figure 5: Top seven events related transactions ($mm)
Price
Rank Year Target Buyer(s) Type ($mm)
1 2006 VNU NV Valcon Acquisition BV Integrated 11,100
(private equity consortium)
2 2005 IIR Holdings Informa Conferences 1,400
3 2007 Advanstar Veronis Suhler Stevenson Integrated 1,142
Citigroup Private Equity
New York Life Capital Partners
4 2005 Hanley Wood JPMorgan Partners Integrated 650
5 2007 ALM Incisive Media (Apax Partners) Integrated 630
6 2007 Penton Media Wasserstein & Co. Integrated 530
7 2007 51% stake in George Little dmg world media Exhibitions 155
Management
Source: DeSilva + Phillips database
Compared to other events, the exhibitions segment has experienced the highest
number of deals in each of the recent years. Exhibitions are typically the smaller
deals in the sector and are often a part of roll-up strategies. After excluding outliers
like the mega-deals listed above, the average exhibition transaction was valued at
only about $9 million.
Conferences were next biggest, averaging $17 million valuation per transaction,
while those that were a part of integrated media companies were highest at
approximately $31 million.
Following is a summary of transactions by segment by year.
7
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