Informa is buying Clarion Events for £2.24bn and preparing to separate Taylor & Francis, concentrating the FTSE 100 group more heavily around international business events.
The acquisition will add more than 100 specialist event brands across sectors including electronics, defence and security, gaming, technology and energy. Informa plans to fund the transaction through acquisition financing and an equity issue expected to raise about £940m.
Following completion, the enlarged events business would operate around 1,000 specialist brands in more than 40 markets across over 30 countries. Informa expects annual group revenue to exceed $6bn after Clarion joins the portfolio.
Clarion is being acquired from Blackstone. Informa expects the deal to increase earnings per share from 2027 and has identified around £50m of potential annual cost savings, alongside additional operating profit from revenue growth across the combined business.
The group is targeting a post-tax return on invested capital above 10% by the third full year of ownership in 2029. It expects leverage to remain below three times net debt to EBITDA at the end of 2026 and below 2.5 times by the end of 2027.
Funding the acquisition will temporarily interrupt Informa’s existing share buyback programme. The planned equity issue represents roughly 9% of the company’s current ordinary share capital and includes an offer for UK retail investors as well as the institutional placing.
The proposed separation of Taylor & Francis would reshape the rest of the portfolio. The academic publishing division is approaching $1bn in annual revenue, but its economics and capital requirements differ substantially from those of the events business that has become increasingly central to Informa’s strategy.
Informa has expanded its events portfolio through a series of acquisitions and international investments, building positions in specialist markets where established industry gatherings can be difficult to reproduce organically. Large events businesses benefit from recurring exhibitor relationships, established communities and long-standing venue positions, giving successful brands barriers to entry beyond the physical exhibition itself.
Clarion extends that model across additional sectors and geographies. The challenge for Informa will be to integrate the portfolio without weakening the specialist identities that support individual events, while delivering the savings and cross-selling opportunities built into its acquisition case.
Taylor & Francis has also grown significantly under Informa’s ownership, leaving the group with two sizeable businesses serving very different customer needs. Separating them would give management teams and investors a clearer view of their respective growth rates, investment requirements and cash generation.
The Clarion acquisition is expected to complete towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. Clarion chief executive Lisa Hannant is expected to remain in post and join Informa’s executive leadership team following completion.
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