INFORMA BUYS CLARION EVENTS FROM BLACKSTONE FOR £2.24BN

Informa has agreed to buy the events organiser Clarion from the private equity group Blackstone for £2.24bn, the FTSE 100 company said. The deal will add more than 100 event brands to Informa's portfolio, covering defence, technology, gaming and travel. Informa plans to raise £940m through a share placing, representing about 9% of Clarion's share capital, to help fund the purchase. It also announced a formal process to separate its academic publishing arm, Taylor & Francis, with the outcome of a review due alongside its full-year results in March.

Clarion's portfolio includes DSEI, a defence and security exhibition held every two years at London's ExCeL centre, and AwesomeCon, a comic book convention in Washington, along with the Classic Motor Show in Birmingham next month. Last year hundreds protested outside DSEI over the presence of Israeli arms firms Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, which have supplied the Israel Defence Forces. Informa said the combined business-to-business events operations would generate sales of more than £4.2bn across roughly 1,000 brands. Clarion alone is expected to generate revenues above £575m by 2027, according to Informa.

Stephen Carter, Informa's chief executive, said the move was part of a growth strategy that has seen business-to-business revenues grow tenfold since 2014. Taylor & Francis, founded in London in 1852 and part of Informa since 2004, generates almost $1bn a year — reported as about £760m by one account and £750m by another. Informa said the division would gain "greater flexibility and freedom" as a separate business. The group's shares have remained flat this year after it rescheduled several Middle East events because of the regional conflict.