The US Is a Must-Have for Events Groups; Nineteen’s on the Prowl

Nineteen Group’s going shopping in the U.S. for new assets, geopolitical turmoil be damned.

The British events company, which holds two shows in the U.S. today, hired seasoned executive Mary Larkin to head up efforts to expand in the country after backer Phoenix Equity Partners raised a £200 million ($267 million) continuation fund in part to fund Nineteen’s acquisition goals.

“My remit is to find new businesses that are currently in our verticals,” Larkin told AMO. That includes: security, health & safety, emergency services, technology, construction, manufacturing and energy. “But we also would consider anything that is of scale, as well. We’re looking at all sorts of businesses now.”

By the end of the year, she hopes to have acquisitions in her pocket, three geocloned shows in America and an office full of staff in Boston—Larkin’s looking at universities for talent and expects to build up the team through acquisitions, as well. While some events are more exposed than others to tariffs and border restrictions, Nineteen is still bullish on the U.S. It’s “very active in the acquisitions phase,” and “We’d like to move as quickly as possible.”

Larkin has more than 25 years of international experience in trade shows, media and sales, and prior to joining Nineteen in February, was the CEO for the Americas for the Arc Network, a media and events business backed by EagleTree Capital. Prior to that she spent nearly three decades at Diversified Communications, an international events and digital media company, largely based in the U.S.

Steve Monnington, owner of Mayfield Media Strategies, an M&A advisory firm specializing in the events industry, told AMO Larkin was a good fit for the position. Her leadership should help Nineteen develop their presence in the country, which he sees as a “vast market” and a “missing piece” for them.

The U.S. is a core market, even if some industries are somewhat impacted by DOGE actions or tariffs.

“The U.S. is still such a big market that people need to be there, and if they haven’t got a good presence there, then they need to keep buying,” Adam Shaw, global managing director of corporate finance at Collingwood Group, told AMO, noting that Informa has 45% of its events in the U.S. “The weight of where those big firms are in terms of events, you know that the U.S. is really very important market to be.”

Nineteen isn’t alone in its targeting of U.S. companies. Easyfairs, a European organizer, is also seeking to grow its presence in the U.S. That company received private equity backing valued at over €600 million ($680 million) in July.

Easyfairs is “approaching this market at the same time as Nineteen are approaching it,” Monnington asid. “If you actually look at their sector profile, they are quite similar, and I would expect them both to be competing for some of the same deals that come up in the USA.”

Nineteen might find it hard to be competitive, even setting aside the tariff war, Monnington said.

“That’s not something that will be news to them… they know that multiples are a little crazier than they are over here [in the UK]. But I think that Phoenix may not be prepared to pay the sorts of valuations that they would have been prepared to pay pre this tariff situation,” Monnington said.

While Easyfairs has more funding, both may have some degree of sticker shock for U.S. assets and may face competition from U.S. buyers who are accustomed to higher multiples, Monnington said. Easyfairs declined to comment.

Shaw said multiples are higher in the U.S. versus the UK, but not outrageously so.

“If you look at what Hyve paid for HLTH, that about 10.5x—it’s not a crazy kind of multiple; maybe they’d have got it at 9.5x in Europe,” Shaw said.

Collingwood puts out a media acquisition report each year and has just begun speaking with sources for the 2025 edition.

“Some of the early feedback we’ve had from a couple have been that they think multiples have increased a little bit since last time,” Shaw said. “Last year we said—for scale businesses—it was eight to 11 times, depending on the quality of the event.”

While the global economy may or may not face recession as U.S. President Donald Trump goes back and forth on tariffing the rest of the world, Larkin noted that U.S. events are generally self-sustaining and not necessarily hugely at risk of being impacted by those factors. She’s especially confident in event industry verticals like manufacturing, retail, technology and security.

“The US market itself hasn’t been impacted,” she said. “I would say that we’re still bullish on the U.S. market.”