M&A Activity Update: A Flurry of Industry Deals in 2006

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 1/22/2007

Two massive deals stole headlines in 2006: Valcon Acquisition's $8.7 billion ($11.5 billion) purchase of VNU and Prism Business Media's announcement that it would buy Penton Media for $530 million. But smaller deals still made waves throughout the year and helped put 2006 on the map as one of the busiest for mergers and acquisitions in quite a while.

One thing's for sure: The deal activity in 2006 certainly outpaced 2005. According to Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc., there were 52 deals involving exhibitions and conferences in 2006, a 53-percent increase when compared with the deals made in 2005.

Another M&A advisory firm, Corporate Solutions, announced that its number of closed transactions in 2006 (10) surpassed all previous years' activity.

Although there were some surprises, most of the 2006 deals — both major and minor — were natural transitions for firms like Reed Exhibitions, dmg world media, United Business Media, Active Interest Media and Penton.

Reed Exhibitions announced last winter that it would sell its North American industrial and manufacturing portfolio in 2006 — and it followed through. In May, the firm auctioned off the U.S. portion to Canon Communications, and in December its Canadian shows in the same sector went to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and Vance Publishing.

Dmg was in a similar situation. In May, the firm said it would reduce its North American consumer home show portfolio by selling or canceling several events. Corporate Solutions is helping to sell six of the U.S. shows, and in the fall sold two of them (one in San Antonio, the other in Minneapolis).

UBM appointed David Levin its group chief executive in 2005, so changes to the firm's properties were expected in 2006. The company, owner of CMP Technology and CMP Information (among other properties), sealed about a half-dozen deals last year tracked by Tradeshow Week.

AIM, formed in 2003, made two major purchases last year to expand its reach. In March the company acquired Yachting Productions and Yoga Journal.

Lastly, in July Penton stated its interest in a buyer, and in November Prism stepped up to the plate and bought the company.

• JAN. 3: The American Sportfishing Assn. acquires the Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Exposition, producer of four East Coast consumer shows: Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Exposition, World Fishing & Outdoor Exposition, World Fly Fishing Exposition and Saltwater Fishing Expo.
• JAN. 10: United Business Media's CMP Technology acquires Shorecliff Communications, producer of Broadband Wireless World, RFID World, TelcoTV and other emerging technology events, for $12.3 million.
• JAN. 11: CMP Technology acquires MediaLive Intl.'s 20 technology events, including the well-known Interop and VoiceCon brands, for $65 million.
• JAN. 12: Ascend Media acquires Eaton Hall Exhibitions' Food Safety Summit & Expo.
• JAN. 23: The Natl. Assn. of Television Program Executives, owner and producer of NATPE, acquires DISCOP, a tradeshow in Budapest, Hungary, dedicated to the emerging Central and Eastern European television business.
• JAN. 26: Toronto-based Newcom Business Media acquires two tradeshows for the Canadian trucking industry, Expo Cam and Cam-Expo, from dmg.
• MARCH 1: Canon Communications acquires Octo Media, a London-based trade magazine publisher and event organizer. Expomedia Group acquires The Surface Design Show from Upper Street Events, the event-organizing arm of Business Design Centre, a London exhibition and conference center.
• MARCH 2: AGI Events, a subsidiary of the Affinity Group, acquires Las Vegas-based Plus Events, producer of the 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; conference producer Cambridge Healthtech Institute acquires Intl. Data Group's Bio-IT World properties, including Life Sciences Conference & Expo.
• MARCH 20: Active Interest Media acquires Yachting Productions, which manages five consumer boat shows: Fort Lauderdale Intl. Boat Show, Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show, Palm Beach Boat Show, St. Petersburg Fall Show and Suncoast Boat Show.

• APRIL 3: The Action Pursuit Group, a subsidiary of Apprise Enthusiast Media, acquires Drive! Media, a Concord, Calif.-based publisher of automotive show publications and events in California and the Pacific Northwest.
• APRIL 10: Magazine publisher CurtCo acquires Trans World Publishing's Art & Antiques magazines and five art shows.
• APRIL 12: Private-equity firms Nautic Partners and Alta Communications and media executive Neal Vitale form a new company called 1105 Media and purchase 101 communications, reportedly for $75 million.
• APRIL 26: Forstmann Little & Co. announces it will invest in New York-based fashion tradeshow producer ENK Intl.
• MAY 10: Canon Communications acquires eight manufacturing tradeshows (the two Advanced Manufacturing Exposition & Conferences, Assembly Technology Expo, Natl. Manufacturing Week, NEPCON East/Assembly East, the two Intl. Powder & Bulk Solids Conferences/Exhibitions and Quality Expo Detroit) from Reed Elsevier; Diversified Business Communications acquires the Administrative Professionals Conference Canada from the Canadian Management Centre, an affiliate of the American Management Assn.
• MAY 21: Valcon Acquisition (controlled by a private equity group consisting of AlpInvest Partners, The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Thomas H. Lee Partners) succeeds in its $8.7 billion ($11.5 billion) bid for VNU.
• JUNE 6: Reed Exhibitions acquires Contemporary Forums, which produces nearly three dozen continuing medical education conferences in 14 states.
• JUNE 13: Dmg acquires the Abu Dhabi Intl. Petroleum Exhibition and Conference for approximately $9.8 million.
• JUNE 14: Reed Exhibitions acquires four collocated shows from London-based Intl. Business Events: Airport, Port & Transport Security Europe, Event & Venue Security, Infrastructure Security and Counter Terror World.
• JUNE 16: Incisive Media acquires AVCJ Group, a Hong Kong-based provider of information to operators in the Asian venture capital, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions markets. AVCJ organizes about a dozen conferences each year.
• JUNE 19: The three Wingate-Web founders acquire a majority interest in the company from MediaLive Intl., which bought the event management software firm in 2004.
• JUNE 20: HX Media acquires Gay & Lesbian World Travel Expo, which will be renamed Gay Life Travel Expo, from Community Marketing; Information Today acquires AmComm Holdings' two Speechtek Conferences and Expositions and Speech Technology Magazine.
• JUNE 21: Global Gaming Expo (G2E), a joint venture of the American Gaming Assn. and Reed Exhibitions, acquires the Asian Gaming Expo, which will be renamed G2E Asia, from the Australasian Gaming Machine Manufacturers Assn.
• JUNE 27: Dmg purchases Evanta, producer of the CIO Executive Summits, for $30 million.
• JUNE 29: E.J. Krause & Associates acquires a majority interest in Kelly Simon Productions' Pennsylvania Law Enforcement & Security Expo, New York Law Enforcement & Security Expo and West Virginia Law Enforcement & Security Expo; Wyndham Jade top executives, led by President and CEO Sue Trizila, buy Wyndham Jade from the Lafayette Investment Fund.

• JULY 4: UBM announces it purchased Thames Gateway Forum for just over £3 million ($5.5 million).
• JULY 5: UBM reveals it purchased Commonwealth Business Media for $152 million; ALM Properties (formerly American Lawyer Media) announces it acquired conference and seminar producer Strategic Research Institute.
• JULY 14: Questex Media Group purchases three tradeshows from the Cayucos, Calif.-based Show Management — the two Intl. Esthetics, Cosmetics & Spa Conferences that take place each spring or summer in Las Vegas and each fall in Orlando, and the Las Vegas Hair & Nail Conference, which collocates with IECSC each year at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
• JULY 18: Caroo Media, the online media division of Tarsus Group, announces it would boost its U.S. expansion through the acquisition of TSNN.com, an online industry resource.
• JULY 20: Expomedia Group acquires the Daily Telegraph Adventure Travel & Sports Show in London and a controlling interest in the British and German MacExpo exhibitions.
• JULY 21: Dmg acquires iMAT (Interactive Marketing & Advertising Trends) from Interpoint Events.
• JULY 25: The Map Network acquires visitor guide firm Essential Media Partners.
• JULY 28: Registration systems firm Exposoft Solutions acquires event marketing firm Executive Meeting Planners.
• AUG. 9: Meeting management firms StarCite and OnVantage merge.
• AUG. 18: Motor Trend Auto Shows, which produces dozens of auto shows (some via its affiliate, IAS, as part of the Primedia Consumer Automotive Group), acquires two auto shows in Tennessee — the Memphis Intl. Auto Show and the Nashville Intl. Auto Show.
• AUG. 21: Pulvermedia branches out into the banking and financial services industry with its purchase of Foreword Financial.
• AUG. 22: Smart City purchases Priority Networks, creating a merger of the two largest tele-communications providers for convention centers.
• SEPT. 5: Active Interest Media buys leading yoga media firm, Yoga Journal, which produces conferences (with small exhibitions); Red 7 Media purchases Agenda USA, a producer of regional publications and Agenda Expo, a New York tradeshow for corporate event planners.
• SEPT. 14: UBM sells CMP Entertainment Media to the private equity firm Wicks Group of Companies, through its affiliate NewBay Media.
• SEPT. 18: Harte-Hanks, a direct and targeted marketing firm, agrees to acquire Aberdeen Group, a technology market research provider that organizes a few annual summits; VNU agrees to sell its 34.3-percent stake in Solucient, an information products firm serving the health care industry, to the Thomson Corp.
• SEPT. 20: Prism Business Media acquires SpeedNews, a producer of four annual conferences and several publications for aviation industry executives; Questex and InfoTrends sign a definitive merger agreement.
• SEPT. 21: Exhibit design firms Avalon Exhibits and Art Guild announce they will merge.
• SEPT. 22: JD Events says it will purchase NetWorld Alliance's tradeshow assets, including its semiannual tradeshow, Self-Service & Kiosk Show.
• SEPT. 26: Action Pursuit Group, an operating company of Apprise Enthusiast Media, announces its acquisition from Great Hill Partners of Action Media Operating, producer of the consumer shows Hot Import Nights and NightShift.
• SEPT. 26: Enthusiast Media, an entity formed by affiliates of Sandler Capital Management, acquires substantially all of the assets of the Crafts Group from Primedia for approximately $132 million.
• SEPT. 29: Penton Media acquires NPIcenter, an online information resource for professionals in the nutraceutical, nutritional, dietary supplement, cosmetics and food industries.

• OCT. 2: Harrah's Entertainment and Boyd Gaming agree to a tax-deferred exchange of Las Vegas Strip property. Boyd receives approximately 24 acres and Harrah's gets Boyd's Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino; Showcare and Laser Registration, providers of event management services and software, merge.
• OCT. 3: Tarsus Group acquires 97.15 percent of the French building management company Proseg from show organizers Jean-Paul and Jacqueline Constant. Proseg owns the annual facility management show Proseg.
• OCT. 4: Reed Exhibitions Australia purchases Hair Expo from Brisbane-based owners Anthony and Susa Wynne-Hoelscher.
• OCT. 6: CMP Information (CMPi) in separate transactions purchases the Care Show, a semiannual British nursing and home care tradeshow, from Wave Exhibitions, and the Netherlands-based Air Traffic Control Maastricht Conference from Jane's Information Group.
• OCT. 9: CMP Technology acquires the Austin Game Initiative, producer of the Austin, Texas-based Austin Game Conference and other events, from Sherman Ventures for $1.15 million.
• OCT. 11: Affinity Group, through its AGI Events division, acquires four North Carolina-based RV shows from Apple Rock Advertising and Promotion.
• OCT. 24: WSA Global Holdings buys the assets of the World Shoe Assn., former owner and operator of The WSA Show.
• OCT. 30: Dmg sells its San Antonio Home and Garden Show to Texas-based Show Technology Productions.
• NOV. 1: Access Intelligence purchases the LDC Forum Series natural gas conferences from Interchange Energy Group; Prism Business Media announces it will buy Penton Media for $530 million.
• NOV. 9: Hanley Wood purchases the Aqua Show, a 13-year-old pool and spa show, from Athletic Business Publications; private-equity firm Wind Point Partners, backer of Active Interest Media, simultaneously purchases two business-to-business media firms, Pfingsten Publishing and Highline Media, and combines them to form Summit Business Media.
• NOV. 16: Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. acquires the tradeshow and conference assets of two Canadian firms: York Communications and Media Edge Communications West. Combined, they produce 23 tradeshows and 26 conferences; Tarsus Group acquires Medical Conferences Intl., an organizer of medical shows and conferences in the U.S. anti-aging market.
• NOV. 22: MidOcean Partners and Wasserstein & Co. agrees to co-own Prism Business Media, upon completion of Prism's acquisition of Penton Media.
• NOV. 28: Dmg sells the Minneapolis Fall Home & Garden Show to Greenspring Media Group.
• NOV. 30: Exhibit design firm Sparks Marketing Group acquires Marlton Technologies.
• DEC. 1: Tradeshow Multimedia and Event Ready merge.
• DEC. 5: Reed Exhibitions sells its Canadian manufacturing and industrial show portfolio to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and Vance Publishing; CMP Technology purchases the Software 2007 Conference.
• DEC. 6: Digital map provider Navteq agrees to acquire The Map Network, a producer of official maps for cities and events, for $37.5 million.
• DEC. 7: Fortent, an anti-money laundering and fraud detection technology provider, purchases Alert Global Media, an organizer of anti-money laundering conferences.
• DEC. 8: 1105 Media announces it will acquire PostNewsweek Tech Media, the Washington Post Co.'s government publishing and events group, which includes FOSE, four publications and online products.
• DEC. 13: A.C.T., producer of the event floor plan management software system Expocad, acquires AreaGraph, which produces a drag-and-drop graphics software program.
• DEC. 18: VNU Group announces it has agreed to sell its Business Media Europe division to 3i, a London-based private equity firm. BME exhibition divisions VNU Exhibitions U.K. (formerly Imark Communications) and BIAS Group in Italy are included in the sale.