Global events solutions provider GL events is to acquire 60% of Shenzhen Sheng Shi Peng Cheng Exhibitions Co., Ltd., organiser of the Fashion Source exhibitions in southern China.
Managers will retain a 40% stake and the deal is subject to MOFCOM1 approval.
The Fashion Source exhibition is held twice a year in Shenzhen: an autumn edition, launched in 2001, which will bring, in November 2019, more than 1,000 exhibitors located across 100,000sqm of space, and a spring version, launched in 2018, whose second edition to be held in May will double in size (gross space of 30,000sqm).
Fashion Source, which has 50 employees, is expected to generate €10m in revenue in 2019 with an operating margin of more than 35%. The acquisition marks a new phase in GL events’ development strategy in China, one month after acquiring a majority stake in CIEC Union, a Beijing-based exhibition specialist in the construction finishing work and decoration sectors.
The deal will also bolster the position in China of Première Vision, a company jointly held by GL events and Association Première Vision, a French textile industry trade association group.
The acquisition is also expected to offer additional development opportunities to GL events Live Shenzhen (ZZX), the event services company in which GL events also acquired a majority stake at the start of this year.
The Group’s appetite in China is still strong, it seems, and it says it is in the process of completing due diligence on the financial, tax and legal situation and business for a fourth company, an organiser with approximately €7m in revenue, with the decision on the acquisition expected to be made in May or June 2019.
