Informa to Acquire ICE and iGB L!VE Owner Clarion Events for £2.24bn

Informa has announced a deal to acquire Clarion Events, the organiser of ICE Barcelona and iGB L!VE, from Blackstone at an enterprise value of £2.24 billion. The UK-listed events group said on 6 October that completion is expected towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. The deal is announced, not completed.

Deal terms

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Informa said the enterprise value, which includes some tax benefits, is 11.1 times Clarion’s expected 2027 EBITDA. It put the multiple at about 9 times when the £50 million of annual run-rate cost synergies identified so far are counted, and about 8 times when targeted revenue opportunities adding roughly £25 million of annual operating profit by 2029 are included. Bloomberg reported the figure as about $3 billion including debt.

The consideration will be paid in cash. Informa said it will fund the purchase from committed acquisition financing and the net proceeds of an equity raise of about £940 million, equal to roughly 9% of its issued ordinary share capital. Its placing announcement describes a non-pre-emptive institutional placing through an accelerated bookbuild launched on 6 October, a separate UK retail offer through the RetailBook platform, and subscriptions by certain directors and management. Admission of the placing shares is expected on 8 October. Informa will pause its share buyback programme, and expects net debt to stay below 3 times EBITDA at the end of 2026 and fall below 2.5 times by the end of 2027.

Blackstone bought Clarion in 2017, reported at £600 million.

What Informa gets in gaming

Informa described ICE in Barcelona as the global leader in gaming events and named gaming as one of three growth categories it enters at scale through Clarion, alongside electronics (including IFA Berlin) and defence and security (including DSEI). Its announcement lists ICE and IGB among Clarion’s gaming franchises. iGB reported that Clarion’s WorldGaming business, including ICE and iGB L!VE, is part of the transaction.

Clarion moved ICE from London to Barcelona in 2025 and relocated iGB L!VE from Amsterdam to London’s ExCeL, according to trade reports. Informa said Clarion owns more than 100 B2B brands and expects the business to generate more than £575 million of revenue in 2027 at an adjusted operating margin above 30%. That projection includes about £100 million of incremental revenue from events that run every two years. These are company forecasts, not audited figures.

What Informa says happens next

Clarion chief executive Lisa Hannant will stay in her role and join Informa’s executive leadership team, and Clarion’s chief executive will roll over part of her equity into Informa shares at completion. Informa said the first three to six months after completion will focus on delivery, with Clarion operating as a business within Informa against plans already committed for 2027.

The announcement says nothing specific about ICE or iGB L!VE, such as dates, venues, pricing or exhibitor terms, and Level.casino found no statement on either in the documents reviewed. Informa did not name the regulatory approvals it expects to need, and we have not seen a competition filing.

Informa also announced the start of a separation process for its Taylor & Francis academic publishing business and said the outcome will be reported with its 2026 full-year results in March 2027. That process is separate from the Clarion deal.