GMA CEO John McGovern to moderate session at BIMS 2026: M&A Case Studies – The View From Two PE-backed Companies

We’re excited for SIIA BIMS 2026! GMA Owner & CEO John McGovern will be joining Kate Spellman of Questex and Hal Cohen, MBA of BridgeTower Media to go over the media and events M&A landscape.

M&A Case Studies: The View From Two PE-backed companies (February 3rd 2026, Day 2, 3.55 PM)

While household names of a couple of large PE-owned tradeshow organizers didn’t trade as expected in 2025, there were other PE to PE deals for info services/media/events companies and new portfolio companies were created from founders. The data suggests that with five events/media/info services companies trading to PE firms in 2025, M&A activity will continue to be strong. PE-backed companies are particularly active and look at a good number of deals every year.

You’ll learn:

What they see in the market, the U.S. especially.
What they’ve seen in businesses on the market that supported their investment thesis.
Thoughts about the ones that got away.

Speakers:

John McGovern, CEO & Owner, Grimes, McGovern & Associates

Hal Cohen, President and CEO, BridgeTower Media

Kate Spellman, Chief Commercial Officer, Questex



Free Business Assessment

Find out what your business is worth

We offer an initial complimentary assessment for owners of events, digital media and information services businesses. Just click on the business type and complete the confidential form to get started. We’ll contact you within 24 hours to review.

Start Now



Businesses for Sale

View our lists of global digital media, events, technology, information services and publishing services business currently for sale.

View List



Free Newsletter: Events, Technology, Information Services & Digital Media News

Stay abreast of the latest trends in the M&A industry. Read interesting case studies. Track deals throughout the country. Pick up hints from experts and much more.