French Venue Owner Buys Show Organizer

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 6/6/2005

Unibail, one of France's largest commercial property investment companies, has acquired Aprovia's show management firm, Exposium. The March acquisition from the Apax Partners, Carlyle Group and Cinven investment firms was valued at ?228.5 million ($283 million).

Exposium, one of France's largest trade fair organizers, has a portfolio of 103 exhibitions, including the food show SIAL (Salon Intl. de l'Alimentaire) and agricultural supplies show SIMA (Mondial des Fournisseurs de l'Agriculture et de l'Elevage).

SIAL, a biennial show in Paris, reportedly attracted 136,374 attendees to a 2.1 million net square foot showfloor in 2004. The firm also operates smaller versions of SIAL in Montreal; Shanghai, China; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The recent acquisition is consistent with Unibail's development strategy in the tradeshow industry. Under the brand name Paris Expo, the publicly traded firm manages seven convention centers, including the CNIT Conference Center and the 220,000 square meter (2.4 million sq. ft.) Paris Expo-Porte de Versailles. The firm has a property portfolio valued at ?7 billion ($8.8 billion).