Steve Monnington, CEO of Mayfield Merger Strategies, reports on the busiest ever 4 weeks in events M&A and talks to Douglas Emslie about the latest Private Equity moves and what lies behind the growing dominance of the USA in events M&A.
The last 4 weeks have seen the announcement of 11 transactions, 8 of which are in the US and with 2 Private Equity (PE) firms splashing out an estimated $3.5bn on three event companies.
Last Friday saw the second biggest deal in exhibition history (estimated enterprise value just under £1.3bn or $1.7bn) with the sale of CloserStill Media). Providence Equity Partners, the fourth PE investor in CSM since it was founded in 2008 by Andy Center, Phil Nelson and Michael Westcott, have sold partly to another Providence fund with Searchlight Capital Partners joining as co-investor.
This Monday came the news that Apollo Funds had entered into separate agreements to acquire both Emerald Holding (Emerald) and Questex and to merge them as one business. The Emerald transaction values the business at approx. $1.5bn. The price paid for Questex has not been disclosed. Prior to this, both Emerald and Questex both had unsuccessful sale processes.
The sale of Doug Emslie’s Tarsus to Informa in 2023 for a reported $940m ranks in the top 5 largest exhibition transactions ever, so who better to assess what this all means. Emslie sees the 3 transactions as a really important confidence boost for the industry after a number of big transactions – Clarion plus previous sale attempts by Emerald and Questex – didn’t consummate. Emslie believes that, as a result, other PE firms will be more confident about the events sector, and this can only be good news.
Emslie also sees another important angle for PE. “The other theme coming through strongly from Private Equity after the market meltdown at the beginning of February this year is AI related. They are looking at what defensive plays they can make where they are not going to be materially exposed to AI, and events businesses are on that list.”
Both transactions will increase the appetite for bolt on acquisitions, good news for founder-led businesses which accounted for 67% of all events deals in 2025.
The rise of continuity funds
The other interesting element of the CloserStill transaction is Providence remaining as an investor, albeit through a different fund, with Searchlight investing alongside in what is reportedly a holding of 40% each with the management reducing their stake from 27% to 20%. Providence and Searchlight are also joint owners of Hyve.
Emslie believes the increasing use of continuity funds generally is more nuanced, with 24% of all PE transactions last year (across all sectors) sold to continuity funds, partly due to lack of liquidity in the market (aka no other credible buyers). This was clearly not the case with the CloserStill transaction which had multiple bidders in the final round, but he feels that the good experience that Providence and Searchlight have had as partners in Hyve played a big part in Providence’s decision. He sees Searchlight as an entrepreneurial firm and a good fit culturally for Close. Providence have had a positive experience since investing in CloserStill .
With Phoenix (who were also an early investor in CloserStill) recently renewing their investment in Nineteen Group and Inflexion (also a previous CloserStill investor) investing in Easyfairs, it seems that PE firms that have spent time understanding the exhibition model are very comfortable with the sector. Going back to Emslie’s earlier point, where else would they re-invest the money so they are not exposed to AI?
Emerald and Questex – not an obvious combination
First a bit of history. In 2013, the trade show division of Neilson Holdings was acquired by Onex Corporation for $950m and renamed Emerald Expositions. In May 2017, the business went public (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange with Onex retaining a 65% shareholding which subsequently increased to a little over 92%, primarily as a result of financial support during COVID. At the Apollo offer price, Emerald’s market capitalisation is $900m a little below the original acquisition price and, given that it is estimated they have spent over $1bn on acquisitions since IPO, both Onex and the minority shareholders are sitting on a substantial loss. The IPO share price was $17 and the agreed offer now is $5.03 (the lowest share price point was $1.63 at the start of COVID). This represents a multiple of 11x 2025 EBITDA which for a PE platform deal is low, reflecting the mixed trading record.
Meanwhile, Questex was founded in 2005 through an MBO, went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring in 2015 and has been owned by MidOcean Partners since 2018.
This will be a merger of two very different businesses. Emerald’s portfolio is primarily large exhibitions, including some consumer events and with some B2B events in the retail sector which are more prone to downturn. Questex operates in the Life Sciences/Healthcare, Hospitality, Wellness and Technology sectors with the majority of the events operating as “confexes” and with a very strong digital element to the business which accounts for 25% of total revenue.
It will be fascinating to observe how these two very different companies will be integrated and what added value, beyond cost saving synergies, will be created. Both businesses are predominantly US based so we could see a more diverse geographical expansion.
The US is driving events M&A
The number of event transactions has been steadily increasing and 2025 was the busiest year since 2019 and the number of transactions in the first 4 months of 2026 suggests that this trend will continue. Interestingly, the driving force behind the increase is coming from the US where the number of US transactions increased by 160% from 2023 to 2025 and the US now accounts for 50% of all deals worldwide.
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 to May 11th | |
| UK | 22 | 25 | 23 | 7 |
| US | 13 | 18 | 34 | 17 |
| Other | 12 | 20 | 22 | 10 |
| Total | 47 | 63 | 79 | 34 |
| USA % | 27.6% | 28.5% | 43% | 50% |
*For this analysis we have included in the US numbers, acquired businesses domiciled in other countries where the main business is in the US. There is an increasing trend for founder-led UK organisers to launch their shows outside the UK.
Last year Emslie joined the Easyfairs board specifically to advise on their US expansion and has several other US business interests, including investments in Jacobs Media and Life Science Connect. I asked for his take on the trends, and he told me that he wasn’t surprised by the stats given that the US is the largest exhibition market and also the most liquid in terms of financing. It also has the most PE firms and is generally booming in terms of M&A. This translates into more appetite for deals which in turn creates a market for more sellers within a culture where businesses are always for sale when the buyers come knocking.
Emslie also points out that M&A cycles are usually 6 to 7 years and that, according to Goldman Sachs, we are in year 4 of the current cycle, all of which suggests that the US is heading towards peak M&A activity. A number of new players in the US market has also contributed to the US surpassing the UK in terms of the number of transactions.
With European PE backed organisers such as Closerstill, Nineteen Group and Easyfairs all actively looking for US acquisitions and European founder-led businesses increasingly attracted to the US market for their event launches, it seems likely that this strong upwards trend will continue.
Transactions announced since the last column.
| Buyer/Investor | Business | Sector | Country |
| Providence/Searchlight | CloserStill Media | Tech, Healthcare, Future Transport | UK/Global |
| Apollo | Emerald | Portfolio | USA |
| Apollo | Questex | Portfolio | USA |
| Montgomery Group | Sustainable Aviation Futures | Aviation | UK/Global |
| Rockview Management Group | NY Now | Gifts & Home | USA |
| Cambridge Innovation Institute | Neurotech Reports | Healthcare | USA |
| AVIXA | LIghtapalooza | Lighting | USA |
| Sound and Fury | AXPONA | Audio | USA |
| Marketplace Events | Travel and Adventure Shows | Travel | USA |
| Events Venture Group | The Nest Campus | Energy | USA |
| Easyfairs | Food Hotel Tech & Tech for Retail | Food/Retail | France |