Informa Buys Gulf Print & Pack Organiser Tarsus Group
UK-based global trade show organiser Informa has reached agreement with Charterhouse Capital Partners and other shareholders to acquire B2B events group Tarsus for an initial enterprise value of $940 million, marking a major rollup for the industry. The Informa Board believes that the combination will be both commercially and financially compelling, with robust portfolio alignment that will deliver enhanced value for customers, additional opportunities for colleagues, and attractive returns for shareholders.
Tarsus owns and operates a portfolio of over 160 worldwide events including Gulf Print & Pack, the MENA region’s leading exhibition for commercial and packaging industries, scheduled to take place in Dubai in January 2024, and the global Labelexpo series of exhibitions and events, with focus on specialist B2B markets with fragmented supply chains and high levels of innovation.
The acquisition will further expand Informa’s Tier 1 portfolio to more than 85 brands, and with the Informa and Tarsus portfolios being complementary, both geographically and by market category, it is likely to strengthen Informa’s position across a number of verticals including aviation, beauty & aesthetics, fashion, healthcare, homewares, infrastructure, packaging, and sustainability.
Stephen A. Carter, group chief executive, Informa, says,” We have long admired the Tarsus business, which, like Informa, has been built around major brands in attractive, specialist B2B markets in the growing regions of Asia, China, the Middle East, and the Americas.”
Since the Charterhouse acquisition in 2019, the Tarsus portfolio has been expanded and enhanced by adding 24 new launches and 11 targeted acquisitions. Like Informa, Tarsus is seeing a similar strong return to the market for Live and On-demand B2B event brands. “We are proud to have supported Tarsus’ development since 2019 and are confident that Informa is exceptionally well placed to deliver the next stage of the company’s growth strategy. We look forward to becoming a shareholder,” says Robert Leeming, partner at Charterhouse.
Mark Temple-Smith, the current chief operating officer for Informa markets, will step in as executive chair of Tarsus from completion through to the end of the combination programme in January 2024. Douglas Emslie, the current Group CEO at Tarsus Group will take on the new role of senior advisor to the Informa group through the combination programme, guiding on brands, partnerships, and talent.
The buy is expected to generate c.$20 million annualized operating synergies by 2025 through efficiencies in procurement, real estate, technology, event contracts, and other areas. The combined business is also expected to deliver incremental revenue benefits through cross marketing of brands, digital expansion, and new event launches, as well as harvesting first party data from Tarsus into IIRIS, Informa’s centralised data and analytics engine.
