Ascential, the owner of Cannes Lions and Warc, is to be acquired by publisher and events group Informa for a cash offer of £1.16bn ($1.5bn).
The boards of both Ascential and Informa have agreed to the terms of a recommended offer of 568p per share. It values the company at £1.16bn “on a fully diluted basis”.
Shares in Ascential closed yesterday at 446.8p, a rise of more than 20 per cent. Today’s news of the agreement has sent the share price up 26% to 564.5p at the time of writing.
Informa is a FTSE 100-listed British-owned publisher, business intelligence and exhibitions group that owns some of the biggest exhibition properties in the world, including the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show and Arab Health.
Informa said it expects significant revenue opportunities from the acquisition, including via cross-selling and expansion into fast-growth economies where it has a foothold; around £12m in annual cost savings; and efficiency improvements by combining Ascential with its operating platform.
Ascential, which was previously known as Emap, is a FTSE 250 company that owns Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and financial conference Money 20/20. The Cannes Lions division generated revenues of £131m and an adjusted Ebitda of £55.6m for the year ending 2023. It comprises Cannes Lions (which earned £101m in revenues in 2023), Warc (£23m), Contagious (£6m) and Acuity Pricing (£4m).
It generates revenues from delegates, sponsorship and award entries. It also owns first-party data that the festival has accrued during its 70-year history, which it said has “ allowed it to develop new products that offer valuable data, analytics and insights to customers on a subscription basis”. Cannes Lions also sells advisory services around creative marketing and effectiveness.
Last year, the business sold digital commerce business Flywheel to ad group Omnicom in a deal worth $900m, marking the US agency group’s largest acquisition in its history. In another deal, it sold its fashion trends business WGSN to private equity firm Apax Partners. In January 2023, it announced plans to spin off its digital commerce arm.
Stephen Carter, chief executive of Informa, said the company was “in the business of creating, nurturing and growing world-class B2B brands”.
He continued: “Lions and Money20/20 are outstanding examples of such brands. Combined, we can expand them into more sectors, accelerate growth and take advantage of new opportunities.
“Informa has the operating platform and capacity. We have international reach into growth sectors. We have IIRIS, our first-party data platform, and we have an understanding of both the fintech and marketing sectors.
“These strengths make us ideally placed to capture the growth and acceleration opportunities available to both Lions and Money 20/20.”
Philip Thomas, Ascential’s chief executive, added that he was “proud of all of Ascential’s brands, and the people who work so hard to deliver for them every day”.
He added: “Our two divisions, Lions and Money20/20, have transformed how our customers around the world experience events, and benefit from both digital intelligence and advisory services. The value our businesses bring to their respective industries is clear, as is the regard in which they are held by Informa.
“Informa is a highly respected business, famed for its expertise in B2B events, strong, ethical culture and commitment to innovation. This offer will not only deliver substantial value for our shareholders but also, together with Informa’s international footprint and extensive capabilities in data and analytics, will unlock further growth opportunities for our brands and our people.”
The deal is subject to regulatory approval, as well as agreement from both companies’ shareholders – “the requisite majority of [Informa’s] scheme shareholders at the court meeting and Ascential shareholders at the general meeting”.
An analyst note issued by HSBC yesterday said of the then-prospective deal that “one of the key investor debates around Ascential was whether it had the scale to remain independent in a sector that has drawn considerable interest from private equity and trade buyers”.
