Following our earlier report, Providence Equity Partners has now acquired CloserStill Media, the previous owner of Clarion Events, for a reported £340 million.
The move comes after years of significant growth for the organiser, which was valued at £25 million in 2012 when Phoenix Private Equity bought into the company and £125 million in 2015 when Inflexion bought a minority stake.
Since the Inflexion investment in 2015 the organiser has made eight acquisitions – five in 2017 and three in 2018 – but CloserStill Chairman and CEO Phil Soar highlighted that the majority of the company’s growth has been organic. Much of the growth has come from the geo-cloning of successful shows in Asia, Germany and the US, with the launch of events such as Cloud Asia, Learning Technologies Germany and New York Vet.
In 2011 Providence acquired George Little Management in the US, which was then sold to Emerald Expositions in early 2014. In 2017 the company sold Clarion Events to Blackstone for a reported £600 million.
Andrew Tisdale, Managing Director at Providence, said, “CloserStill is an exceptional business led by a strong management team with a proven track record of developing and acquiring successful events around the world. With a compelling global portfolio and diverse customer base across the technology, learning and healthcare sectors, CloserStill is well-positioned to accelerate the momentum the business has generated to date. We are excited to partner with such a fantastic team and look forward to working together.”
USA, Providence, RI & UK, London
Related articles:
- Providence exhibits £300m bid for London Vet Show owner Posted on November 30, 2018
- CloserStill Media acquires a majority stake in The eLearning Guild in the USPosted on October 15, 2018
- CloserStill acquires majority stake in Masie Productions’ “Learning Conference” Posted on June 8, 2018
- CloserStill acquires Online Educa Berlin Posted on December 6, 2017
- Providence Equity acquires Clarion Events for over £200M Posted on January 14, 2015
- CloserStill acquires pharmacy trade show Pharmagora from NewsMed Posted on March 31, 2014
- CloserStill acquires the Data Centre World event Posted on July 4, 2013
- DMGT sells GLM to Providence Equity Partners Posted on October 4, 2011
- CloserStill Media’s new investment arm acquires Red Publishing Posted on April 20, 2011
- CloserStill Media launches an investment arm and made its first acquisition Posted on April 13, 2011
- Cox Enterprises sells 25% of AutoTrader.com to Providence Equity Partners Posted on May 5, 2010
- Baidu’s online video company to receive $50M investment from Providence Equity Partners Posted on February 26, 2010
Fusion Corporate Partners 
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