Opus Origin has acquired WHD Event GmbH from the partners of Equivia, for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition means that a portfolio of large-scale international events in the hosting and cloud sectors are now under the ownership of a UK start-up. Opus Origin was formed by Stephen Brooks in 2019 following the sale of Mack Brooks to Reed and is run by former Contentive CEO, Sandeep Saujani plus Clarion Events’ chairman Simon Kimble (pictured left) and head of commercial development, Sam Jennings (pictured right).
WHD Event GmbH CEO Christian Jaeger and his team form part of the deal, managed by Mayfield Merger Strategies. They will continue to run and develop the business.
WHD Event GmbH, based in Cologne, is the organiser of CloudFest, one of the largest Cloud and Hosting industry events that annually attracts over 9,000 international visitors to Europa Park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg.
WHD Event GmbH also organises the MSP Global event for managed service providers, which will take place at the Port Aventura theme park near Barcelona in October 2024 following a successful launch event at the Nürburgring 2023.
The acquired events portfolio also includes NamesCon, one of the largest events in the domain industry, and CloudFest USA, both of which are held annually in the US.
A statement from the partners of Equivia read: “The investors behind Equivia had acquired the assets of the CloudFest and NamesCon 2021 events from the then owners in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and actively supported and expanded the events during and after the crisis. Despite the difficult economic conditions during the pandemic, the business performed better after the crisis than before. CloudFest was able to maintain its role as the largest event in the Cloud and Hosting industry and expand it even further after the pandemic.
“Since 2023, new major events such as CloudFest USA and MSP Global in Europe have also been successfully established. The investors are now placing the events in new hands and are delighted to have found a good home in Opus Origin.”
