Informa to acquire Clarion for £2.24bn

Informa has agreed to acquire Clarion from Blackstone (BX) in a transaction valued at £2.24 billion, including debt. The deal expands Informa’s presence in business-to-business live events and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. The agreement represents a major step in reshaping Informa’s portfolio around large-scale events and related services.

Clarion, a UK-based events operator, owns more than 100 B2B live-event brands. These include prominent trade shows such as IFA Berlin and the defence and security exhibition DSEI. Incorporating these events is set to significantly increase the scale and diversity of Informa’s global events line-up.

The acquisition will add Clarion’s broad roster of events across multiple sectors to Informa’s existing trade events business. Shows such as IFA Berlin and DSEI are among Clarion’s flagship brands and will now sit within Informa’s enlarged events platform. In total, more than 100 live-event brands will transfer to Informa once the deal completes.

By integrating Clarion’s portfolio, Informa will deepen its reach in key international markets and industry verticals where Clarion has established franchises. The combined portfolio is intended to support a larger calendar of exhibitions, conferences and trade shows under the Informa umbrella.

Informa plans to fund the Clarion acquisition through a mix of dedicated acquisition financing and an equity placing of about £940 million. The equity raise will include a £250 million offer for retail investors via the RetailBook platform. This structure spreads funding between new equity and debt facilities earmarked for the transaction.

The placing and retail offer are designed to give both institutional and individual investors the opportunity to participate in funding the acquisition. Informa outlined these plans to investors alongside the transaction announcement, positioning the financing package as directly tied to the Clarion purchase.

Alongside the Clarion deal, Informa announced plans to separate its Taylor & Francis academic publishing business. The move is part of a strategic refocus on its core trade and B2B live events operations. Taylor & Francis is a longstanding academic unit within the group, and its separation is intended to create a clearer structure for Informa’s activities.

The company framed the separation of Taylor & Francis and the acquisition of Clarion as related steps in concentrating resources on B2B events. As Informa works toward completing the Clarion transaction in the fourth quarter of 2026, it will also progress the formal process to separate the academic division into a distinct business.