Blackstone close to £800m deal for LDC's NEC

Christopher Papadopoullos
12 October 2018

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Blackstone is close to acquiring exhibitions organiser NEC Group from LDC.

The deal will value the company at a little more than £800m, according to Sky News, which broke the story.

NEC operates five venues in Birmingham, including the National Exhibition Centre, which plays host to Crufts and the BBC Good Food Show. LDC acquired the firm from Birmingham City Council in January 2015 in a deal that valued the business at £307m. It generated revenues of £162.1m in the year to March 2018 and EBITDA of £54.7m.

The auction is being run by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the report said.

Since LDC's investment, new partnerships have included Resorts World Birmingham, a £150m leisure and entertainment complex at the main NEC site operated by Genting; and several new visitor attractions with Merlin Entertainments including The Bear Grylls Adventure at NEC and Legoland Discovery Centre at Arena Birmingham.

New exhibitions hosted for the first time have included This Morning Live, The Fit Show and Collectormania, as well as Dinosaurs in the Wild – its first long-stay event. The firm's growth has been supported by capex of £48m over the last three financial years.

LDC and Blackstone declined to comment.