This article was featured in the April/May 2026 edition of Exhibition World Magazine

Events M&A in 2026 is off to a strong start, with 14 event deals in January and February, compared to 8 last year in the same period. Notably, only about 25% of the deals in this period have involved Private Equity firms, with February having no PE-related deals. That will probably switch around by the end of the year. We wouldn’t be surprised if PE’s share came in above last year’s 46% of event deals.

In an unusual development, Media10 acquired Futurebuild, a UK built-environment trade show,  from international organizer Easyfairs. Easyfairs is a PE-backed organizer backed by Inflexion and Cobepa, both European PE firms. It is not very common that Private Equity sells a stand-alone event from their portfolio as a carve-out. Since Media10 plans to organize Futurebuild along with their existing UK Construction Week, this event is perhaps more strategically valuable to the buyer, who already has a strong portfolio in construction.

An interesting observation in the data is that both traditional and “new economy” segments of the events industry remain active in M&A. Long-standing B2B trade shows and conference brands changed hands among established organizers: Fiera Milano acquired Made in Steel – an international steel industry event. Koru Media, a UK-based B2B publishing company, integrated the events The Print Show and The Sign Show. These transactions reflect continued consolidation among operators built around traditional industrial trade shows, professional conferences, and sector-specific communities.

On the other hand, buyers are actively pursuing new economy, digitally connected and niche event brands. MAD World Summit, a UK-based B2B HR event was acquired by PMGroup Worldwide, expanding their media and events portfolio. With this acquisition PMGroup expanded their traditional pharmaceuticals and healthcare portfolio into the workplace culture and wellbeing space. RTS acquired the esports event platform E-Sports Evolution, an investment in digitally native and rapidly growing event formats tied to gaming and entertainment audiences.These newer segments often combine live events, streaming, digital communities, and sponsorship, making them attractive growth areas within the broader events landscape.

Jan-Feb 2026 Majority Event Deals