New York-headquartered mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, Grimes, McGovern & Associates (GMA) has published a white paper analysing cross-border investments in events companies.
Cross-Border Private Equity M&A Activity in the Events Industry uncovers how private equity firms have invested in portfolio companies and how those portfolio companies, in turn, have invested in independently-owned events businesses, especially across North America and Europe.
GMA has tracked and analysed hundreds of M&A deals, dating back to 2013. Almost half (43%) of private equity buyouts or growth capital investments were made post-Covid, indicating the substantial appetite for M&A since 2022.
“Audience extension and common clients are two main considerations of the investment thesis for any bolt-on event acquisition. Particularly in events portfolios with a large number of Fortune 500 clients, these corporations tend to be global and are looking for customers in all regions. The investment of PE-to-Portfolio Companies tends to be more tied to diversification in the particular fund they are investing out of,” said John McGovern, CEO of GMA.
“We expect cross-border activity, especially Portfolio Company to Bolt-on, to continue. Many Portfolio Companies are expected to come on the market in the next couple of years, so they will have new owners seeking more acquisitions to balance against organic growth.”
The white paper is now available for download here.
GMA is a global independent M&A Advisory firm and one of the most active in trade show and event acquisitions globally. GMA’s cross-border transactions include: Vinelake to Cambridge Innovation Institute, Ultima Media to Süddeutscher Verlag, Utility Analytics Institute to Informa, SMI to SAE International, G2 Intelligence to LabX, and Coking.com to CRU.
For more information on the collaboration,visit mediamergers.com or contact John McGovern at jmcgovern@mediamergers.com.
