According to Colin Morrison’s Flashes&Flames It is believed the US-based Northstar Travel Group is poised to acquire three UK exhibitions – The Business Travel Show, Meetings Show, and Travel Technology Europe – from Centaur Media. The annual two-day events are one part of the Centaur portfolio put up for sale as it prepares to focus on its core XEIM marketing services group, which includes Marketing Week, eConsultancy, Festival of Marketing, and Oystercatchers.
The 25-year-old Business Travel Show is claimed to be the largest event of its kind in Europe, while The Meetings Show is said to be the UK market leader. The trade shows targeted by Northstar (which has similar events in the US) are reported to attract some 14,000 visitors and almost 1,000 exhibitors. They are believed to have aggregate revenues of more than £6m and at least £1.5m of EBITDA, which implies a likely price of £15-20m.