Blackstone, the US private equity company which bought London-based exhibition organiser Clarion Events in 2017 for £600m, has reportedly kicked off the sale auction process of Clarion, according to a Reuters report, which has cited four people familiar with the matter as confidential sources.
Clarion, led by CEO and events veteran Lisa Hannant, runs 125 events across various sectors including international trade shows in electronics, gaming, energy, security and defence. Its revenue rose to £432.9m ($584.26m) in the 12 months ending January 2024, up from £257m the previous year, largely due to resumed activity in China and Hong Kong.
Blackstone, the Reuters report said, had distributed information memoranda earlier this month and this has reportedly drawn interest from funds including CVC, KKR, PAI Partners, Hillhouse Investment and Ardian.
Clarion is thought to be valued at around £2bn (US$2.7bn) and one strain of thinking is that it has been waiting for clarity on the economic outlook in the wake of president Trump’s tariffs before launching the sale process.
“It’s conceivable that Clarion will go to a new PE firm for our space,” said John McGovern of Grimes, McGovern & Associates (GMA) which represented the seller, Eaton Hall Exhibitions, in one of the last deals Clarion did before they went on the market. “New investors in our space are good for everyone. After everything our industry has gone through over the last five years, the interest in the PE community in our industry – 40+ firms and counting – is validation of the value event companies bring to businesses. As powerful as tools like Linkedin are, online-only business connections are bit like being out in the middle of the ocean. It seems like the investment community sees the value of face-to-face,” McGovern added.
Clarion has yet to update officially on any sale process, unsurprisingly, and, for now at least, speculation remains speculation, although Goldman Sachs is thought by some to be organising the auction sale.
