Informa Announces Acquisition Of Hanley Wood Exhibitions For GBP237 Mln

(RTTNews) - Publishing firm Informa Plc. (INFMF.PK, INF.L) Tuesday announced further progress with its 2014-2017 Growth Acceleration Plan, which includes the acquisition of leading U.S. trade show operator Hanley Wood Exhibitions for 237 million pounds and the decision to consider options for its smaller Consumer information and forecasting businesses within Business Intelligence.

As part of the plan, the firm also announced a placing of up to 9.99 percent of the Group's issued share capital, effectively funding the acquisition of Hanley Wood Exhibitions in full.

The acquisition is expected to further strengthen Informa's growing Global Exhibitions business, adding 17 trade shows in the Construction and Real Estate vertical, including leading brands like World of Concrete, Greenbuild and The International Surfaces Event.

As per the purchase agreement, Informa and Hanley Wood have agreed to enter into a 10-year partnership for the provision of mutual editorial, marketing and commercial support. The deal is being financed from existing company resources.

In the twelve months to the end of March 2015, the US Exhibitions Business being acquired is expected to report revenue of 41.3 million pounds and adjusted EBITDA of 21.0 million pounds.

Further, the firm said the management is also now examining alternatives for its smaller Consumer information and forecasting businesses that are currently part of the Business Intelligence Division.

Informa still expects to deliver adjusted earnings per share for 2014 in line with the market consensus, which currently sits within the range of 39 pence to 40 pence.

This is despite the anticipated dilution from event phasing at the newly-acquired Exhibitions Business in the final month of 2014 and the impact of the proposed placing of shares.