Skift Take
Events and publishing giant Informa has big plans to expand into the marketing and financial technology sectors.
Miguel Neves
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On Wednesday, publishing and events giant Informa Recommended Offers It has acquired Ascential, owner of the Lions and Money 20/20 businesses, for $1.55 billion (£1.2 billion) in cash.
The two companies agreed to a cash offer of $7.35 (£5.68) per Ascential share, a 53% increase over its closing price two days earlier. Before the deal was announced, Ascential was valued at around $968 million (£750 million).
Informa acquired Tarsus for $940 million in March 2023. The acquisition added more than 160 exhibitions and media across a range of industries to Informa’s portfolio.
Ascential describes itself as a specialist, events-led information and advisory business, and its two main brands operate in specific areas: Lions in marketing and Money20/20 in financial technology.
Half-year results previewed in the offer documents show revenue of approximately $204 million (£158 million), up 15% compared to the same period last year (H1 2023: $175.4 million (£136.1 million)). Both the Marketing and Financial Technology divisions delivered double-digit revenue growth. In the most recent full year: Financial PerformanceThe company reported a 13% increase in sales and a 17% increase in adjusted EBITDA.
Ascential is no stranger to deals. It is currently in the process of selling Hudson MX, in which it has a 36.5% stake. In October 2023, it announced it would complete the sale of its Flywheel Digital and WGSN businesses, returning approximately $1.1 billion (£850 million) in proceeds to shareholders. In August 2023, it acquired creative and strategic intelligence services Contagious, to operate under Lyons’ marketing division.
Ascential specialises in B2B events, with Informa describing the company as a “pure-play operator of two of the highest quality and most renowned global events”.
The company also result Its outlook for the first half of 2024 includes an 11% increase in revenue, an increased full-year guidance and an ambition to achieve adjusted operating profit of up to $1.29m (£1bn).
Informa expects to save around $15.5m (£12m) through efficiency gains from integrating Ascential with its operating platform, and also expects significant revenue opportunities to emerge from cross-selling and expanding into fast-growing economies where it already hosts events.
Informa has unveiled some of its plans for the Ascential brand: the company is looking to put Lions at the centre of a new venture called Informa Festivals, bringing together Informa’s best-known shows – the Monaco Yacht Show, London Tech Week and Black Hat – and is also looking to expand Money20/20 to the Middle East and Africa, possibly through Tahaluf, a joint venture with the Saudi Arabian Cyber Security and Programming Federation.
Informa is one of several companies that have signed deals to share AI training content. 3-year contract It partnered with Microsoft to give the US tech giant access to its data, generating $10 million in profits in the first year, and in its half-year results, Informa said it expects its AI-related revenue to exceed $75 million by 2024.
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