Informa to Acquire Clarion for £2.24 Billion: ICE, IFA and DSEI Join the World’s Largest B2B Events Group

Informa (opens in a new tab) (LSE: INF) set out the deal in a company update titled "Growth, Focus and International Expansion". Clarion "has been valued at an enterprise value of £2.24bn, including some tax benefits", and "the consideration will be paid in cash, funded through dedicated acquisition financing and the net proceeds of a c.£940m equity placing and retail offer (c.9% of Informa’s issued ordinary share capital)".

The placing ran as an accelerated bookbuild launched on the day, with a separate offer to retail investors through the RetailBook platform. Informa also paused its share buyback to redirect capital into the transaction. Completion is expected "towards the end of Q4 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals".

People and commitment

Clarion becomes an operating business within Informa, led by its current CEO, Lisa Hannant, who "will remain in her role and join the Informa Executive Leadership Team". She will also roll a proportion of her Clarion equity into Informa shares at completion. On the buy side, Informa’s executive directors, the PLC board and chair-elect Tom Glocer committed to take part in the placing, and Informa’s largest institutional shareholder "expressed its strong and unequivocal support".

Clarion (opens in a new tab) was established in 1947 and, in Informa’s words, "owns and operates over 100 specialist B2B brands, with leading positions across a range of international growth categories and deeply entrenched, long-standing customer relationships". Its ten largest category franchises account for two thirds of revenue. The portfolio includes eight Marquee brands with revenue above US$30 million each and eight Power Brands between US$10 million and US$30 million.

Clarion has grown faster than the B2B events market over the last three years. Informa expects it to generate "revenues of £575m+ in calendar year 2027, with adjusted operating profit margins of 30%+". That reflects about 10% underlying growth on annual events, plus about £100 million of extra revenue from biennial events, the shows that run every other year.

The gaming franchise

Informa singles out gaming as one of three high-growth categories the deal opens up, describing ICE (opens in a new tab) in Barcelona as the "global leader". ICE is where the gambling industry gathers each year: online and land-based operators, game studios, platform and payments suppliers, affiliates and regulators. iGB, the sister brand, covers the online gaming and affiliate side of the market with events and media. Together they give the buyer a direct relationship with almost every serious company in regulated gaming.

Informa’s case rests on four points: strong financial returns, scale entry into growth categories, more depth in growth geographies and compounding growth through what it calls One Informa. After the deal, its B2B live events business is expected to generate more than £4.2 billion of revenue across about 1,000 brands in more than 40 market categories and 30-plus countries.

The deal takes Informa’s portfolio of Marquee and Power Brands past 100 and lifts the number of category franchises generating US$50 million or more to over 20. In an industry where the biggest show in a category tends to stay the biggest, owning the leader is worth far more than owning the second event.

The geographic playbook

Clarion brings depth in North America and Asia and significantly strengthens Informa’s European position. It has "minimal presence in IMEA", the region where Informa ran more than 20 brands worth about US$200 million of revenue since its half-year results. Informa plans to "geo-locate and syndicate" Clarion brands into those markets, following the approach it used with Money20/20 and LIONS after buying them. For gaming, that points to regional editions of ICE and iGB wherever regulated markets open up.

Data and partnerships

Informa says it is more advanced in first-party data through its IIRIS platform, and in amplification services and AI product features that earn money beyond stand space, delegate passes and sponsorship. It also earns more from hotel and city partnerships as it concentrates large audiences in fewer places. Adding Clarion’s audiences makes both levers bigger.

The headline multiple is 11.1x Clarion’s expected 2027 EBITDA. Informa has identified £50m± of annual run-rate cost synergies from operating model efficiencies, procurement, shared services, event delivery and removing duplicated corporate costs. Including those, the multiple drops to about 9x. A further £25m± of operating profit from revenue synergies by 2029 takes it to about 8x.

About 25% of the synergies are expected in the first full year of ownership and the full run rate by 2029, with one-off delivery costs of about £50 million. Informa expects "mid-single digit adjusted diluted EPS enhancement in 2027" and a post-tax return on invested capital above 10% by the third full year, "above Informa’s weighted average cost of capital".

Balance sheet and guidance

Pausing the buyback and issuing about 9% new equity keeps pro-forma leverage "below 3x at year-end 2026, falling to sub-2.5x by year-end 2027". Informa also reaffirmed 2026 guidance of about 6% underlying revenue growth and double-digit growth in underlying earnings per share, backed by more than US$1 billion of Group revenue already booked and committed for the fourth quarter. Combined, the B2B live events business is expected to grow at 7% or more.

Informa has a tested combination routine. The first three to six months after completion focus on "Delivery, minimising distractions for Colleagues and operating to the plans and budgets already committed for 2027". That period also gives time for "Discovery", before brands and teams are combined, with the stated aim of "creating the biggest, most innovative and dynamic B2B Live Events Group in the world".

What to watch

• –Gaming events. The next ICE in Barcelona and iGB’s calendar, the first editions under Informa ownership, and any new regional gaming editions under the geographic playbook.
• –Regulatory clearance. Timing against the guided late-Q4 completion in the terms.
• –Synergies. Whether about 25% of the £75m± synergy target shows up in 2027.
• –Data products. How quickly IIRIS-style lead generation and digital services reach Clarion audiences, as set out in data and partnerships.
• –Taylor & Francis. The separation route Informa chooses, due with its March 2027 results.