U.K. Events Organizer to Acquire Advanstar for $972M

Oct. 3, 2014—U.K. events and communications company UBM Plc has entered into an agreement to acquire Advanstar Communications, the publisher of Motor Age and Auto Body Repair News.

The transaction is being valued at approximately $972 million, according to an Advanstar release. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

Advanstar is a U.S.-based trade show organizer and media publisher that provides event and marketing solutions to a number of industries, including automotive, fashion, licensing, life sciences and powertrain. 

According to a report in FOLIO, Advanstar's MAGIC Marketplace biannual show for the fashion industry is "the largest individual property involved in the transaction." The event draws more than 65,000 attendees and 4,300 exhibitors each spring and fall in Las Vegas. 

Advanstar has roughly 30 publications and 200 websites under its corporate umbrella, according to FOLIO, and the effect this acquisition will have on those properties is not known at this time. UBM shuttered print publications and reorganized the operations for its U.S.-based UBM Tech division a year ago, which resulted in up to 300 layoffs, FOLIO wrote.