CloserStill’s journey from the site of a pig farm in Shakespeare country, to a London-based exhibition empire valued at US$1.73bn (£1.49bn), is another reminder of just how potentially lucrative exhibitions are; and a validation of the hard work of one of our industry’s smartest dynamos.
CloserStill Media, founded almost 20 years ago in leafy Warwickshire, has just been acquired by Searchlight, the same company that bought events business Hyve Group for around £524m in June 2023. It assumes joint control of CloserStill with existing investor Providence Equity Partners.
Second only to Informa’s acquisition of UBM in 2018, the $1.73bn deal marks our industry’s biggest vote of confidence as a means of generating business and, for me at least, an incredible result for a business I’ve followed since assessing its earliest award entries as editor of Exhibition News magazine.
Back then of course, the prospect of purchase by private equity was pie in the sky.
Co-founded by Phil Nelson and Michael Westcott in 2008, with Phil Soar joining in 2009 as Chairman, CloserStill built its reputation on domestic healthcare, technology and education shows. When it did begin making acquisitions, they were modest. Back then I wrote about the company buying MediaPro, an event which drew just 100 exhibitors and 2,000 visitors. Today the organiser’s events are attended by more than half a billion visitors, with an EBITDA of more than $81 million.
But these are just numbers that make eye-catching headlines. When you write about an industry for long enough, you tend to think of businesses as the people driving them; and the former CEO of that business was someone I remember very fondly.
I was sitting at my newsdesk when reception rang and told me that they had Andy Center, CloserStill chief executive, on the phone. Andy had gotten wind that I was inclined to publish a photo of him, walkie talkie in hand, personally trying to eject a protester dressed as a dog from the queue for the London Vet Show, and quite politely asked if that was the case. ‘I most certainly am,’ I told him. ‘It’s a picture of you wrestling a man in a dog costume.’ Andy, with whom I often talked about industry journalism, completely agreed I should and then, quite impolitely, said he would never speak to me again if I did.
The reason was simple, CloserStill was already evolving into a major UK organiser, and this was one blush he could do without, being the subject of this photo story rather than a reader gawping at the news pages. It began quite a lively discussion (they always were).
At some point in every successful organiser’s journey, the madcap early years give way to more measured, hands-off behaviour, and even then Andy, formerly MD of Ithaca Media and Penton Media, knew CloserStill had made that transition and was on the path to greatness.
Andy passed away in August 2019 at the tragically early age of 58, having witnessed the company’s acquisition by Providence the year before. And I doubt he’d have been surprised that it went on to become the subject of the world’s second largest trade show deal, were he staring at the glassware in the reception of CloserStill’s London HQ today.
From fresh powder to private equity
When the group’s current CEO, Gareth Bowhill poured himself a drink over the bank holiday weekend, I imagine he too reflected on the incredible financial return possible in the exhibition industry.
Like Closerstill, Bowhill began his career in events almost 20 years ago, building a business plan for two ski instructors keen to start and sell a small hospitality business. Last week he sat at the helm for a similar feat, only the two ski instructors had been replaced by two private equity firms worth a combined $70 billion.
Searchlight and Providence “share our vision and ambition”, Bowhill said of the deal, no doubt already identifying which doors this huge sum of cash will open. “We believe partnering with two experienced B2B event investors positions us strongly to accelerate our growth and unlock new opportunities. Together, we look forward to delivering even greater impact for our customers, exhibitors and partners, and to continuing to operate as a leading events provider.”
Where the company goes from here is in the hands of CloserStill’s newly-expanded ownership, but Searchlight’s capital injection will steer it away from any dog days.
And somewhere out there, I like to think Andy, who worked so hard to turn CloserStill into the global behemoth it has become, is patting himself on the back.
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