Figure 3: U.S. trade show and exhibition market
Forecast CAGR CAGR
Year 2005 2008 2012 2005-2008 2008-2012
Exhibit space (mm Sq ft) 383 407 441 2.0% 2.0%
Growth % 3.2% 1.0% 2.2%
Average price per square foot ($) 20 22 25 3.6% 2.9%
Growth % 2.6% 4.3% 3.5%
Total spending on exhibit space ($mm) 7,530 8,895 10,811 5.7% 5.0%
Growth % 5.8% 5.4% 5.8%
Fees, sponsorships and advertising 2,184 2,702 3,518 7.4% 6.8%
($mm)
Growth % 7.7% 7.0% 7.5%
Total trade show spending ($mm) 9,714 11,597 14,329 6.1% 5.4%
Growth % 6.3% 5.8% 6.2%
Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, “Communications industry forecast: 2008-2012”
M&A activity
Introduction
To take a measure of M&A activity in the events sectors, we examined the M&A
transactions of the past three and a half years and looked ahead to determine what
might be expected in the next year or two. Our analysis focused on transactions
conducted by U.S. media or private equity buyers or sellers.
Recent M&A transactions were culled from statistics in our database for the period
from January 2005 through June 2008 to determine transaction values, average
multiples and who the most active buyers were. In addition, we explored the types of
companies that were acquired – exhibitions, integrated businesses, or conferences.
Events services businesses were excluded.
To assess the M&A outlook for events businesses in the next year or two, we polled
key executives from some of the largest and most active owners or acquirers of
events businesses, including B2B and consumer media companies as well as private
equity firms.
M&A market overview
As readers of this report who are active in media M&A are well aware, there have
been a number of significant changes in the M&A market for events over the past
year. These changes include:
 The market for debt to facilitate M&A transactions has been sharply curtailed.
As a result, private equity buyers who depend on leverage for their
transactions have been forced either to offer lower prices or to use more of
their own equity to make acquisitions.
 The housing downturn in the U.S. has raised concerns about the overall
economy, including views from some economists that the U.S. is in recession.
 Buyers of media businesses are hyper-focused on revenue and EBITDA
growth; businesses that are showing flat or declining revenue are far less
appealing to buyers.
 Recent increases in the cost of oil have raised concerns that attendance at
events might be negatively impacted. Our survey revealed that some buyers
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