Henoto, the BolognaFiere Group company specialising in temporary exhibition structures, has shown its appetite for developing business on the American market with the acquisition of 51% of FM Exhibit Llc, a company specialising in design and construction for the trade fair/events sector. FM Exhibit has an established presence in the USA and an operational headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Gianpiero Calzolari, chairman of the Henoto Group said: “This new acquisition further broadens our offer to our customers. We are bringing into the Henoto network a company that shares our objective of growth in foreign markets, in particular, in the USA, where we have both been working for some time.”
“Linking the FM Exhibit brand to the Henoto Group,” said Antonio Pedrina, CEO of FM Exhibit Llc, “will enable us to take full advantage of new business opportunities, bringing benefits to both companies, which share the goal of boosting their established international presence. We consider our contribution strategic in terms of our knowledge of the US market, where we have been operating for many years. Our business also benefits from an operational office in Atlanta, underpinning our presence, knowledge and market coverage.”
The latest data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) values annual Italian exports to the US at €67.3bn, following a trend of constant growth from 2014 to 2023 (with the exception of 2020 due to Covid).
In 2023, the US was Italy’s second largest export recipient after Germany.
More than 50% of those exports come from three Italian regions: Lombardy (€14.3bn), Emilia-Romagna (€10.4bn) and Tuscany (€9.1bn), followed by Veneto (€7.6bn). These are regions that are home to the nation’s main industrial centres, and which are well represented at trade fairs in the major Italian exhibition centres with which Henoto has established relations.
Henoto was set up in 2021 from the merger between BFservizi and GiPlanet, a company with 30 years of experience in the trade fair sector.
The pooling of their respective know-how has given rise to a full service company for trade fairs and outdoor events.
The Group posted a €70m turnover in the first half of 2024, a period in which the company set up exhibition structures covering a space exceeding 380,000sqm at a total of 160 events in Italy and abroad.
FM Exhibit posted a business turnover in the US of $5m in 2023.
