Tarsus Buys Into West, Central China

Tarsus Group has bought a 50-percent interest in Hubei Hope Exhibition, a company that organizes shows primarily in Central and Western China. While the price was relatively small – 20 million renmimbi, or about $2.8 million – it is significant because it represents one of the first acquisitions of an interest in a Chinese exhibition organizer by a Western company, as well as one of the first forays by a Westerner beyond the busy coastal exhibition destinations of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Hubei Hope has a portfolio of 27 shows, primarily in medical equipment, industrial equipment and leisure. The company is headquartered in Wuhan and stages its shows there and in Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Shanghai.

“The deal is small in terms of financial commitment,” said Tarsus Group Managing Director Douglas Emslie, “but the whole emphasis in China now is on the secondary markets. … This gives us a leading position in the fast-developing Central and Western Chinese markets.”

Emslie said his company got involved after it was contacted by Hong Kong-Shanghai Venue Management (Zhengzhou), which operates both the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre and the 2-year-old Zhengzhou Intl. Exhibition & Convention Centre. Hong Kong-Shanghai Venue's chairman is Cliff Wallace, managing director of the Hong Kong convention center and current president of UFI, the Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry.

“They said, 'We'd like you to bring some shows (to Zhengzhou),'” Emslie recalled. “I said, 'I'll only do it if you can find me a partner.'”

Thus began more than 14 months of negotiations that led to the recent announcement of the new partnership, he added.

“We've been tracking this one for quite a long time,” Emslie said. “It was complex, but doing business in China isn't easy. You've got to be flexible.”

Tarsus will be expected to offer its international connections and tradeshow management expertise to the company that is already the biggest tradeshow organizer in Central and Western China, markets many believe are the next fertile areas for expansion in the Asian exhibition industry.

Tarsus Group already organizes a handful of wholly owned shows in China, the largest being LabelExpo, held each year in Shanghai. It also has a partnership with World Expo Group, which produces several small shows along with the World Expo to be held in Shanghai in 2010. It is responsible as well for international sales for the annual Shanghai Intl. Advertising Technology & Equipment Exhibition, China's largest tradeshow for the advertising business.