Informa agreed to purchase the rival event specialist Ascential, for £1.16 billion. This deal has given a boost to the City’s dealmaking.
Ascential’s board has approved the cash offer of 568p per share from the FTSE 100 company that owns the Miami Boat Show and World of Concrete.
Philip Thomas, Ascential’s chief executive, said that the offer would not only provide substantial value to our shareholders, but, with Informa’s extensive capabilities in data analytics and its international footprint, it will also unlock new growth opportunities for Ascential brands and people.
Ascential shares, with a market cap of £900m, closed last night up 20,4% at 446 3/4p after the company announced that it had advanced discussions about the takeover. Shares rose by 26 percent, or 115p to 562p. Informa shares fell 1 1/2p or 0.2 percent to 845 1/2p today, valued at £11 billion.
Lord Carter of Barnes said that the combined group will be able “to expand into new sectors” and “take full advantage of all of these opportunities.”
Informa, the largest trade show organiser in the world, is responsible for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show as well as Pharmapack Europe, Arab Health and the Pharmapack Europe. The FTSE100 company was hit hard when events were closed down during the pandemic. It has recovered by selling a non core business and purchasing a key competitor.
In 2022, the group sold its Pharma Intelligence division to Charterhouse Capital Partners for £1.9 billion. Last year, it acquired Tarsus Group from Charterhouse Capital Partners for $940 millions to expand in Asia, China and the Middle East. Tarsus will add about £200m in trade show revenue to the group.
Ascential (formerly Emap) owns the Cannes Lions Festival. This event celebrates creativity in the advertising sector and was first launched in 1954. Money 20/20 is a fintech conference that holds events across Asia, Europe, and Las Vegas. Ascential events can cost thousands of dollars to attend.
The FTSE 250 Group outlined a split-up plan in the past year. It then sold Flywheel to Omnicom, a company that helps clients like Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Nestle sell products online through marketplaces such Amazon.
Duncan Painter left Ascential after 12 years as its chief executive to become the leader of Flywheel, owned by Omnicom. Ascential is also trying to sell Hudson MX – a media management system.
The deal activity has increased this year, as private equity firms have been looking to deploy their capital and the economic outlook is becoming more secure. Investors have been attracted to UK-listed stocks as they are still relatively undervalued in comparison with their international counterparts.
Darktrace was purchased by Thoma Bravo in April for £4.3 billion. Hargreaves Lansdown is the DIY investment platform that has been targeted by CVC Group and a consortium led by private equity firms with an offer of £5.4 billion.
Nationwide took over Virgin Money for £2.9million. Bellway has also made a bid for Crest Nicholson, and Anglo American rejected a merger offer by BHP.
BCG, a consultancy, found that the value for European M&A increased by 23 percent to $255 billion during the first half of the year. The value of global M&A deals also rose 4 percent to $1 trillion.
According to Dealogic data, global banks have seen a 25% increase in their investment banking revenues to $36,97 billion during the first half 2024.
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