Informa to buy Clarion for £2.24bn, separate academic business

(Sharecast News) - Informa said on Tuesday that it had agreed to buy event and exhibition organiser Clarion from private equity firm Blackstone for £2.24bn, as it announced plans to separate its academic business, Taylor & Francis, to focus on the core B2B business. Informa said that following the acquisition, B2B Live Events will generate revenues of more than £4.2bn/$5.7bn across around 1,000 specialist B2B brands in more than 40 market categories and 30+ countries.

Established in 1947 and headquartered in the UK, Clarion has a portfolio of "high growth, high impact brands", Informa said. It owns and operates over 100 specialist B2B brands, "with leading positions across a range of international growth categories and deeply entrenched, long-standing customer relationships".

The deal values Clarion at 11.1x 2027 expected earinngs before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, or around 9x including the £50m run-rate cost synergies identified to date.

The company said it plans to raise gross proceeds of around £940m in an equity issue to part-fund the acquisition of Clarion, which is expected to complete towards the end of the fourth quarter.

Chief executive Stephen A. Carter said: "The planned separation of Taylor & Francis coincides with further expansion in B2B through the £2.24bn acquisition of Clarion, the UK-based owner of more than 100 B2B Live Event brands. The combination will underscore Informa as the UK-listed, international leader in B2B Live Events, with annual group revenues exceeding $6bn and underlying revenue growth of 7%.

"Today's announcements mark the latest step in a growth strategy that has seen B2B revenues grow tenfold since 2014, whilst generating more than $3bn of value in Business Intelligence and lifting Taylor & Francis revenues fourfold since it joined the group."

See latest RNS on Sharecast