Informa plans to acquire Clarion for €2.64 billion

Informa has agreed to acquire Clarion Events for €2.64 billion ($3 billion) from Blackstone firm. The deal aimed to expand Informa’s B2B events portfolio. Informa’s plans include raising around €1.1 billion through new share issue to help finance the transaction. The shares of the firm rose 4% after the announcement. Informa CEO Stephen Carter said: To that end, ⁠we’re adding another portfolio of brands to our business, Clarion Events, which is a very complementary fit. Blackstone initiated an official sales process for Clarion last year as activity in the events industry escalated. B2B events companies have attracted interest from investors as real-world events are considered fairly safe from the rise of AI. This year Hyve Group has finalized a $1.8 billion sale to Hellman & Friedman whilst Searchlight Capital Partners purchased part of the CloserStill Media company in a $1.73 billion deal. Lionel Assant, Global Co-Chief Investment Officer at Blackstone, said that Informa is the ideal partner for Clarion’s next chapter. Informa has also conducted a formal process for looking at alternatives for its academic publishing subsidiary Taylor & Francis which generates almost $1 billion in revenues and is growing by about 4% year on year. Taylor & Francis accounted for approximately 17% of Informa’s revenues in 2025. The company expects to communicate the outcome of the process along with its full-year results in March 2027.