B2B media and events business Informa has agreed a takeover of Cannes Lions owner Ascential.
The cash deal values specialist events business Ascential, which also owns fintech conference brand Money 20/20, at £1.2bn.
The deal comes as Informa announced its half-year results, with underlying operating profit growth of 19% and adjusted operating profit up to £466.9m, revenue growth of 11% to £1.7bn and dividend growth of 10% to 6.4p per share.
Informa also revealed its AI partnerships will bring in more than $75m (£58.2m) in 2024. It announced a deal with Microsoft in May, including access to its data, that came with an initial fee of more than $10m (£7.8m) and then three more annual payments to cover access to new content.
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Informa said in its results it has signed a second major AI partnership but did not disclose any further details.
It committed to reinvesting one third of its profits from AI partnerships in 2024 into “technology, open research, research integrity and AI product development at Informa, including in relation to improved discoverability and automated citations”.
Informa said: “Discussions with other AI technology companies are ongoing.”
Why Informa wants to buy Ascential
Of the new takeover deal, Informa said it had plans to make annual advertising industry cornerstone Cannes Lions the “centrepiece of a new business, Informa Festivals, designed to showcase the value of experience-led, festival brands – a fast growing area in the B2B events space”.
This would include Informa’s existing events Monaco Yacht Show, London Tech Week and cybersecurity show Black Hat.
It said it “sees the opportunity to create significant value from further developing its own Festival brands, in combination with Lions’ expertise, and accelerating the broader experience-led transformation of its wider B2B portfolio”.
It also said it planned to expand Money 20/20 into the Middle East and Africa.
As a result of the merger, which would see Cannes Lions and Money 20/20 combined into Informa’s operating platform, it said it expected £12m in annual cost savings and efficiency improvements as well as “significant” revenue opportunities such as “through cross selling and expansion into fast growth economies where Informa has an established position”.
Informa is also still implementing the combination of the digital businesses in its Informa Tech division, including US business publisher Industry Dive, research businesses Omdia and Canalys and other digital media brands, with US-listed Tech Target, which it bought in January.
It said the merger is on schedule and should complete in the last quarter of this year. The combined business will be led by Informa Tech’s current chief executive and headquartered and listed in the US “with the ambition to become a leading B2B growth accelerator for Technology companies”.
It is aiming to double revenues of the combined business to $1bn within five years, “through a combination of underlying growth and targeted additions”.
Informa also owns more B2B events in the Informa Markets and Informa Connect divisions, as well as academic publisher Taylor & Francis, which in particular has seen a big revenue boost from the AI data deals.
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