Northstar Travel Group—parent company of BTN, The Beat and
Travel Procurement—has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Centaur
Media Travel and Meetings from Centaur Media. CTM includes the Business Travel Show, The Meetings Show and Travel Technology Europe. The
transaction is expected to close at the end of April. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
According to a joint press release, the Business Travel Show
is Europe's largest corporate travel event with more than 9,000 attendees,
including 220 exhibiting companies and 500 hosted corporate travel buyers. It
has been produced for 25 years in London. The Meetings Show is the U.K.'s
leading inbound and outbound event for global meeting planners and draws
approximately 5,000 attendees, including 640 exhibitors and approximately 1,000
hosted meeting buyers. Travel Technology Europe, which has showcased travel
industry technology solutions for 17 years, draws approximately 6,500
attendees, including 300 VIP travel technology buyers, annually.
"The addition of
Centaur's Travel and Meetings exhibitions to our global portfolio of 80
events in 13 countries fits perfectly with our strategy to expand our event
segment with the U.K.'s leading portfolio of travel shows, said Northstar
Travel Group chairman & CEO Thomas Kemp. "The acquisition also provides
Northstar with a platform in London to expand our portfolio of travel
information and marketing services properties in the U.K. and Europe. We are excited to add
Dave Chapple and his team of travel event professionals to the Northstar team."
Northstar Travel Group already serves the corporate travel
industry with the BTN Group, which includes Business Travel News, Travel Procurement and The Beat; the
global meetings and incentive industry with Northstar Meetings Group, which
includes Successful Meetings, Meetings
& Conventions, Meetings News and Incentive; and the travel technology industry through
Phocuswright.
The entire CTM team is expected to join Northstar at the
transaction close. "We
are thrilled with the combination of the Travel and Meetings
business with Northstar Travel Group," said Chapple, CTM group event
director. “Northstar is the perfect strategic partner for our
portfolio of exhibitions with the leading global brands in each of our travel
markets."