2008 News Releases

United Business Media acquires Gartner Vision Events for $11.4m

21 February 2008

CMP Technology adds specialist events to its Channel events portfolio

United Business Media plc today announces that it has acquired Vision Events on behalf of CMP Technology's Channel business. UBM has acquired the Vision Events from Gartner, Inc. for a total cash consideration of $11.4m.

Vision Events (www.visionevents.com) is a leading provider of specialized US and international information technology events. Vision Events organises 16 annual conferences with sponsors including IBM, HP, SAP, Microsoft and Samsung. The attendees of these invitation-only events include key decision-makers drawn from Channel and end user audiences in vertical markets such as government, manufacturing and financial services.

Each conference is designed to enable technology vendors to engage with their professional corporate IT and channel buyer counterparts for more targeted business conversations than is usually possible at larger events. Attendees value the efficient event format, which allows them to evaluate a variety of products and solutions over a short period of time, gain in-depth information and build business relationships through senior level networking. Vendors gain access to an exclusive attendee list to shorten sales cycles and develop new customer accounts.

The business is a highly complementary addition to the events portfolio of CMP Technology’s Channel business into which Vision Events will be integrated. Vision Events has 50 employees; most are based in Bedford, New Hampshire, USA with the remainder in Egham, U.K. In 2007, Vision Events’ conferences generated $20.5 million in revenue. The acquisition is anticipated to meet UBM's 8% post-tax cost of capital acquisition criterion in 2008.

The acquisition is subject to Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) consultation. UBM expects the transaction to close by the end of February.

Robert Faletra, President of CMP Technology’s Channel business said:

"This is a great acquisition for CMP Channel because it deepens and broadens our event portfolio, adding channel, retail, international and specialized IT events. There are strong synergies between CMP Channel and Vision Events, and these new events closely map to our strategy to provide ‘Access to Execution’, creating many growth opportunities. We are fully committed to driving business through the technology Channel and by adding Vision Events to our already robust portfolio; we are expanding our offerings and markets even further while we continue to bring buyers and sellers together."

- Ends -

Contacts

Notes to Editors

1. About United Business Media Plc
United Business Media Plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print, and with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 5,000 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

For more information, go to www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

• Top of page