Blackstone acquires Clarion Events

Bain Capital, Blackstone, Bridgepoint, Cinven and XIO Goup all competed in the second round of the auction for Clarion, with Blackstone pre-empting the final-round bids to secure the deal, according to unquote" sister publication Debtwire. Clarion was being sold from an EBITDA of £45m and bidders were tabling offers in the region of 12x EBITDA, according to Debtwire.

According to several press reports, the deal valued Clarion at around £600m.

Providence bought Clarion Events from Veronis Suhler Stevenson in January 2015 and has an option to reinvest a portion of its proceeds from the sale into Clarion. The GP reportedly scored a 41% IRR on its investment.

Company
Founded in 1947, the Clarion group now has 950 employees across 13 offices and delivers 180 events and exhibitions in roughly 50 countries. The sectors it covers include retail & home, gaming, defence and security, technology and energy.

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