13-2-2018
UBM has accepted a £3.90 billion takeover offer from its multinational event organiser rival Informa, who aims to create the largest business-to-business events group in the world.
“Our recommended offer for UBM promises to create a leading B2B information services group with the international reach and market capabilities to take full advantage of these trends,” chief executive of Informa Stephen Carter said.
Stephen Carter will be the chief executive of the combined group. Patrick Martell, chief executive of Informa’s business intelligence will lead UBM as an operating unit through to the tie-up at the end of 2018. Greg Lock, chairman of UBM, will become deputy chairman of the merged entity. Tim Cobbold, chief executive of UBM, will step down within one month of the offer becoming effective.
Informa investors own 65.5 percent of the company and UBM shareholders 34.5 percent under the offer.
Informa will economize £60 million in annual costs from its takeover. “We believe 60 million pounds is conservative, given UBM is a business that was seen as quite cost-heavy,” the broker added. There would likely be some job losses as overlapping management roles will be cut out. The group will employ about 11,000 people.
UBM owned Express Newspapers, Property Week, The Publican and Music Week. Its focus then has shifted to events, conferences and exhibitions, such as Asia’s Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Fair in the coming 28th February to 3rd March.
Informa focuses on B2B events, academic books publishing and global exhibitions. The company operates over 200 trade shows and 10,000 conferences annually. Its online publishing portal Informaworld offers subscribers with more than half a million journal articles and 13,000 e-books.
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