ICG mid-market fund makes first investment with Pageant deal

Katharine Hidalgo
12 February 2020

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Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has made its first investment from its Europe Mid-Market Fund by backing financial publisher Pageant Media.

The fund closed on €1bn in January 2020.

The sale price discussed in negotiations was £100-150m, according to a report by Betaville. The investment was comprised of debt and equity.

Pageant hired Livingstone to advise on a sale process in October 2019, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket. The whole group targeted £9-10m in EBITDA for 2020, up from £7m a year earlier, according to the report. Bowmark Capital also entered into advanced sale negotiations for the asset, according to a report by This Is Money.

Pageant acquired US-based events company Pension Bridge in 2019, Institutional Investor Journals in 2018, and Hedge Fund Intelligence in 2017, both the latter two from Euromoney.

Pageant was 56.5% owned by founder Charlie Kerr.

Company
Pageant Media is a provider of news, insight and data to the asset management sector. It also organises events for industry participants. Founded in 1998, the company is headquartered in London and operates offices in China, Wales, Brazil and the US. It employs 240 people.

The company reported operating profit of £1.4m from revenue of £16.8m for the year ending on 28 February 2019. Unquote understands the latest revenue figure for the company is around £32m.

People
ICG – Gareth Knight (head of Europe mid-market).
Pageant Media – Charlie Kerr (CEO, founder).

Advisers
Equity – DC Advisory (corporate finance).
Vendor – Livingstone (corporate finance).