Informa's £2.24bn Clarion deal brings the DSEI arms fair into a FTSE 100 events group
Informa is buying Clarion from Blackstone for £2.24bn, adding more than 100 events including DSEI, the defence fair held every two years at London's ExCel. The deal gives Informa scale, plus a protest risk tied to the Middle East conflict that has already disrupted its own events.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- City AM describes Clarion as the world's largest privately owned event and exhibition organiser.
- Informa will raise £940m through a share placing to help fund the deal, including an offer to retail investors through the broker RetailBook.
- After the acquisition, Informa expects the enlarged group to make £4.2bn a year in revenue from live events.
- Informa expects combining the businesses to save £50m in overlapping costs and add roughly £25m of income by 2029.
- Last year hundreds protested outside DSEI in London against the presence of Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel's three biggest arms companies.
Why it matters
- What it costs cost Existing shareholders are diluted by the placing and lose the share buyback now, while the promised earnings-per-share gain of mid-single digits does not arrive until 2027.
- Who's exposed exposure Cannes Lions and London Tech Week now have the same parent as an arms fair whose exhibitors have included state-owned suppliers to Israel's military, so protests at DSEI can damage the wider Informa brand.
- Who has to decide decision The Taylor & Francis review, due to report in March, will decide how much of Informa's earnings depend on live events. That in turn sets how much DSEI-type risk shareholders carry.
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Clarion is Informa's second large events purchase in two years. It paid £1.2bn for Ascential in October 2024, which brought in Cannes Lions and Money 20/20, and that December it merged its tech business with TechTarget [21][22]. The two events deals come to about £3.44bn together [26]. Stephen Carter, the chief executive, said the company was "accelerating the focus" on its core live events business [17].
The two reports give different prices. The Guardian puts it at £2.24bn and City AM at £2.3bn [28][29]. On the Guardian's figure, the £940m placing covers about 42% of the cost and leaves roughly £1.3bn to be found. On City AM's figure it covers about 41% [24][25]. The shares rose 1.4% in early trading on Tuesday [20].
The trade-off is scale against exposure. DSEI is held every two years in London, and there are also editions in Germany and Japan [2]. Last year's protesters objected to three Israeli companies at the fair. All three have supplied the Israel Defense Forces, and two of them, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, are state-owned [14]. Most of Clarion's portfolio is not defence. Its brands include IFA Berlin, the International Casino Exhibition and AwesomeCon in Washington [10][1].
The new exposure adds to a weakness Informa already has. After Clarion, Middle East politics can reach the group in two ways: through its own event calendar, and through protests outside a fair it owns in London. Its shares have been flat this year because conflict in the Middle East forced it to reschedule several events in the region [18]. It earns more than a third of its revenue in India, the Middle East and Asia [19].
I would expect DSEI to be a small line in the enlarged accounts. It is one of more than 100 Clarion events, and the London edition comes round only every second year [1][2]. Neither report includes DSEI's revenue or any comment from Informa on the fair.
The timing still matters. On the two-year cycle, the next London edition falls in 2027 [27]. That is the year from which Informa says the deal will lift earnings per share [11]. By then Taylor & Francis may have left the group. The publisher is approaching $1bn in revenue and growing at 4% a year, and Informa has started a formal process to separate it [8][6]. "We believe it will now benefit from greater flexibility and freedom through the next phase of its development, as Informa further expands the depth and reach of its B2B portfolio," Carter said of the publisher [9].
What to watch
- Any statement from Informa on who may exhibit at DSEI, including the Israeli state-owned suppliers, ahead of the 2027 London edition.
- How Informa funds the roughly £1.3bn of the price that the £940m placing does not cover, and at what cost.
- Whether more of Informa's Middle East events are rescheduled, given that India, the Middle East and Asia bring in more than a third of its revenue.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives55
- Confidence58
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
The takeover will add more than 100 events to Informa's portfolio, including the defence and security exhibit DSEI held at London's ExCel and the comic book and pop culture themed AwesomeCon in Washington.
- [2]
DSEI is held every two years in London as well as in Germany and Japan, and has attracted protests.
- [3]
To fund the Clarion deal, Informa will raise £940m through a share placing that includes an offer for retail investors through the broker RetailBook.
- [4]
Informa will pause its current share buyback programme as part of the takeover.
- [5]
By 2027 the deal is expected to raise Informa's earnings per share by mid-single digits.
- [6]
Informa has launched a formal process to separate Taylor & Francis and will "review all options"; the outcome will be reported alongside its full-year results in March next year.
- [7]
Informa will announce the outcome of the Taylor & Francis separation review alongside its 2026 full-year results.
- [8]
Taylor & Francis is approaching $1bn in revenue and growing at 4% annually.
- [9]
"We believe it will now benefit from greater flexibility and freedom through the next phase of its development, as Informa further expands the depth and reach of its B2B portfolio,"
- [10]
The Clarion deal brings brands including IFA Berlin, the world's largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade show, and the International Casino Exhibition under Informa.
- [11]
Informa said the takeover is expected to accelerate its growth and bolster its earnings per share from 2027.
- [12]
Clarion Events is the world's largest privately owned event and exhibition organiser.
- [13]
Last year, hundreds demonstrated outside the four-day DSEI fair in London in protest against Israel's three biggest arms companies present at the event: Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries.
- [14]
Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries have supplied the Israel Defense Forces; Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries are state-owned.
- [15]
Following the acquisition, Informa expects to make £4.2bn in annual revenue from live events.
- [16]
By 2029 Informa expects combining the two businesses to save £50m in overlapping costs and bring in roughly £25m in extra income.
- [17]
Stephen Carter, the Informa chief executive, said the company was "accelerating the focus" on its core live events business.
- [18]
Informa's shares have been flat so far this year because it was forced to reschedule several events in the Middle East due to the conflict in the region.
- [19]
Informa makes more than a third of its revenue in India, the Middle East and Asia.
- [20]
Informa shares rose by 1.4% in early trading on Tuesday.
- [21]
In October 2024 Informa bought Ascential for £1.2bn, bringing the Cannes Lions International Festival and Money 20/20 into its portfolio.
- [22]
In December 2024 Informa merged its tech business with US-based TechTarget to bulk up its marketing offering.
- [23]
Informa is headquartered in London, employs 14,000 people and hosts events including London Tech Week and the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
- [24]
The £940m placing covers about 42% of the £2.24bn price reported by the Guardian, or about 41% of the £2.3bn price reported by City AM.
- [25]
On the Guardian's price, roughly £1.3bn of the cost is not covered by the placing.
- [26]
Informa's two events acquisitions since October 2024, Ascential and Clarion, total about £3.44bn.
- [27]
The next London edition of DSEI falls in 2027.
- [28]
Informa, a FTSE 100 company, has struck a £2.24bn deal to buy the London-based events organiser Clarion from the private equity group Blackstone.
- [29]
City AM reported that Informa acquired Clarion Events from Blackstone for £2.3bn.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cityam.comInforma snaps up Clarion Events in £2.3bn deal with Blackstone
1 article · October 5, 2026
- theguardian.comUK events firm that hosts arms fairs and comic shows sold to rival for £2bn
1 article · October 6, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Events industry mergers and acquisitions
- Academic Publishing
- Arms trade fairs
Entities
- Blackstone
- Taylor & Francis
- Israel Aerospace Industries
- IFA Berlin