Blackstone leads £50m capital injection for NEC

All NEC's existing investors, who include the management team, as well as previous NEC majority owner LDC, are believed to have participated in the capital injection.

Blackstone originally invested in NEC in 2018, drawing equity from its Total Alternatives Solution IV, which closed on $1.207bn in January 2018.

The cash call took place several weeks ago in a move to cushion NEC against the fallout of the coronavirus crisis.

Blackstone and LDC declined to comment.

Previous funding
LDC acquired NEC from Birmingham City Council in 2015 in a deal that valued the business at £307m.

Blackstone acquired NEC from LDC in 2018. Financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed; however, at the time, Sky News reported the deal valued the company at a little more than £800m. The business generated EBITDA of £54.7m from revenues of £162.1m in the year ending in March 2018.

Company
Founded in 1976, NEC operates five venues in Birmingham, including the National Exhibition Centre, which plays host to Crufts and the BBC Good Food Show. It generated underlying EBITDA of £64m in the year ending on 31 March 2019 and turnover of £170m.

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• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• Blackstone Group
• United Kingdom
• LDC