Natl. Research Buys Conference Producer
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 6/19/2006
Natl. Research Corp., a firm that measures health care performance and improvement, is buying the Governance Institute, a group that provides strategic advice for board members, executive managers and physician leaders of hospitals and health systems through its conferences, publications and research.
The Lincoln, Neb.-based NRC paid $19.8 million in cash for the firm, and has assumed $2.5 million in liabilities.
The Governance Institute, a portfolio company of Housatonic Partners, produces six leadership conferences each year, along with seminars and special events. The 20-year-old firm will remain a San Diego-based organization with all its current associates making the transition to NRC, which was founded in 1981. NRC COO Jona Raasch has been named president of TGI and will manage its day-to-day operations.
"TGI's attractive subscription-based business model, high renewal rates and low capital requirements, combined with its highly recognized and trusted brand built over the past 20 years, has all the aspects one looks for in great companies with great talent," said NRC CEO Michael D. Hays.
TGI Vice Chairman Jim Rice said NRC's content and expertise would "allow TGI to add material value to our member organizations on the very topics of the highest priority."
He added, "This combination will not only enhance services for our current members, it will also provide expansion of TGI member services to NRC clients and, of course, opens up board and executive leadership access to NRC products and services."
Jordan Edmiston Group Inc. and Coady Diemar Partners brokered the deals for TGI and NRC, respectively.
NRC has complementary products and services for the same end-user market as TGI, said Scott Peters, JEGI managing director.
The new owner plans to grow the business through increased sales and marketing efforts, and by broadening the information product offering, Peters said.
The auction process took four months, according to JEGI.
TGI held a leadership conference May 21–24 at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. Later this year, it will host leadership conferences at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco (Sept. 17–20) and at Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. (Oct. 22–25). It will host regional conferences Sept. 26–27 at the Joint Commission Conference Center in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., and Oct. 27–28 at the Doubletree Crystal City in Arlington, Va. A chair and CEO conference will take place Nov. 9–11 at the La Quinta Resort in La Quinta, Calif. Its 2007 leadership conferences will take place again at the Broadmoor and Greenbrier, and also in Naples and Palm Beach, Fla., San Diego, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
In 2005, TGI's revenue was $6.2 million, according to NRC. The Institute has 436 members with a membership retention rate of 88 percent, and drew 1,386 attendees to its conferences last year.
