Informa to Buy WARC and Cannes Lions Parent Ascential

UK-based Ascential, owner of ad industry information service WARC, is set to be acquired by publishing and events business Informa, for around £1.2bn. Ascential has already sold almost all its research assets and the Informa deal is mainly for events like Cannes Lions and Money 20/20.

Ascential, which has around 700 staff, will shortly publish interim results for the six months ended 30th June, showing revenue of c.£158 million and 15 per cent organic growth. Once known as EMAP, the group bought ad industry research, publishing and subscription service WARC six years ago for an initial £19.5m in cash and for another five years continued to invest and acquire in the intelligence space, although in 2021 it did sell its location intelligence arm Groundsure. In autumn last year however, the company announced it would sell its digital commerce and consumer research business WGSN, so as to focus on its events business. WGSN was sold to Apax Partners for around £1.4bn, but WARC stayed with Ascential.

The Informa deal values Ascential at 568p per share, a premium of around 53% to its closing price on Monday this week, and 61% to its thirty day volume weighted average price. The deal was announced at the same time as Informa's half-year results, which included underlying revenue growth ot 11%. Informa CEO Stephen A. Carter (pictured) said of the motivation for the move: 'Informa is in the business of creating, nurturing and growing world class B2B brands. Lions and Money20/20 are outstanding examples of such brands. Combined, we can expand them into more sectors, accelerate growth and take advantage of new opportunities. Informa has the operating platform and capacity. We have international reach into growth sectors. We have IIRIS, our First Party Data Platform, and we have an understanding of both the FinTech and Marketing sectors. These strengths make us ideally placed to capture the growth and acceleration opportunities available to both Lions and Money20/20'.

Ascential Chief Exec Philip Thomas comments: 'Informa is a highly respected business, famed for its expertise in B2B events, strong, ethical culture and commitment to innovation. This offer will not only deliver substantial value for our shareholders but also, together with Informa's international footprint and extensive capabilities in data and analytics, will unlock further growth opportunities for our brands and our people'.

In exchange documents Informa said it intends to make Lions the core of a new business, Informa Festivals, which will showcase the value of experience-led, festival brands, a fast growing area in the B2B events space. Informa already has a number of its own such events, including the Monaco Yacht Show (Luxury), London Tech Week (Future Tech) and Black Hat (Cyber Security).

Ascential Directors will unanimously recommend the offer to its shareholders. The deal is subject to their vote and to regulatory approval.

Web sites are at www.ascential.com and www.informa.com . Further information about Informa's business and recent changes is in this article.