Three Companies Add to Show Portfolios

AGI Events, Canon Communications and Expomedia Group have all added new shows to their portfolios, indicating that the merger-and-acquisition market is still going strong.

Just three months after buying a dozen consumer shows, AGI Events has picked up Las Vegas-based Plus Events, a producer of six consumer shows in the sportsmen's and home and garden markets.

AGI will use the shows as the basis for a regional group headed by Plus Events' owners, Harry and Shirley Sleight. The acquired shows include Las Vegas Sportsmen's Show, Las Vegas Spring Home & Garden Show, Reno Total Home Show, Sacramento Total Home Show, Las Vegas Summer Lifestyles Home Show and Las Vegas Fall Home Decorating & Remodeling Show.

AGI, a subsidiary of the Affinity Group, in December bought a dozen shows operated by Royal Productions, a Richmond, Va.-based family firm. The shows are now organized as AGI's Southeast division.

Nick Curci, president of Corporate Solutions, which handled the sale, said further acquisitions are expected since AGI wants to become "a serious presence in the consumer show market."

Canon's acquisition of Octo Media is the company's first since Apprise bought it from Veronis Suhler Stevenson nine months ago for more than $200 million.

Octo produces the 16-year-old Medical Device Technology, Europe's largest medical device magazine. In addition, the London-based company organizes the 13-year-old Medical Device Technology Exhibition & Conference, which reportedly drew 150 exhibitors when it was held Feb. 16–17 at the Natl. Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, U.K.

The magazine will complement Canon's European Medical Device Magazine. Canon also holds MEDTEC shows in Ireland and Germany.

"It's a highly complementary opportunity that does make us the clear leader for the medical device industry," said Charles McCurdy, CEO of both Apprise and Canon.

Most of Octo's staff will join Canon. The properties were previously owned by Advanstar Communications, which sold them to Octo several years ago. "They've done a pretty good job with it," said McCurdy.

Among Canon's largest shows are the collocated Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West, WestPack, PLASTEC West, Pacific Design & Manufacturing, and Electronics West, which collectively ranked No. 58 on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200, drawing nearly 35,000 attendees and 1,937 exhibitors to a 323,340 net square foot showfloor at the Anaheim Convention Center in 2004.

Canon's second-largest event, the collocated Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East, Atlantic Design & Manufacturing, EastPack, and PLASTEC East, ranked 95th on the TSW 200, with more than 25,000 attendees and a 241,990 net sq. ft. showfloor with 1,430 exhibitors.

In the current market, Expomedia Group has also found an opportunity to expand its portfolio. The London-based company, which produces tradeshows and owns exhibition venues, recently purchased The Surface Design Show from Upper Street Events, the event-organizing arm of Business Design Centre, a London exhibition and conference center.

Upper Street launched the Surface Design Show in 2004 for architects and interior designers. Held at the Business Design Centre March 1–2, the event drew 3,500 attendees and 123 exhibitors to a 6,100 net sq. ft. showfloor (1,855 sq. m.).

According to Expomedia, the exhibition is growing by 25 percent per year. The company projects a 7,218 net sq. ft. (2,200 sq. m.) floor in 2007, with similar events being studied for launch in Germany, France and Spain.

Expomedia noted that the Surface Design Show acquisition complements ICON and III in New Delhi, and Flooring Russia and Windows & Facades in Moscow.