SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Emerald Expositions Events, Inc. (NYSE:EEX) (“Emerald”), a leading U.S. business-to-business trade show, event and conference producer, today announced the acquisition of Boutique Design New York (“BDNY”) and related assets from ST Media Group International (“ST Media”) and Hospitality Media Group (“HMG”).

Now in its ninth year, BDNY is a leading trade show and conference for boutique hospitality design professionals, primarily serving the eastern United States, Canada and Europe. BDNY has been recognized among the fastest-growing trade shows in the U.S. for the past five years and was ranked the 145^th largest U.S. trade show by Trade Show News Network in 2017.

Presented annually in November at New York City’s Javits Center, BDNY showcases high-end, unique and innovative design products for the hospitality industry. The two-day show brings more than 8,000 interior designers, architects, purchasing agents and hospitality property owners and developers together with over 750 manufacturers and marketers of exceptional design elements for hospitality interiors.

In addition to BDNY, Emerald is acquiring the BDwest and HX: The Hotel Experience trade shows, the Hospitality Match, Senior Lifestyle Design Match and Forum Series events, and Boutique Design, the partner magazine to BDNY.

Members of the ST Media and HMG teams will join Emerald, including Michelle Finn, formerly President of HMG and Senior Vice President of ST Media. Ms. Finn will report to Joe Randall, Executive Vice President Emerald Expositions, as Vice President of Boutique Design.

Mr. Randall commented, “We are delighted to add BDNY and related products to our existing portfolio of leading hospitality brands, which includes Hospitality Design, Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, Healthcare Design, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Environments for Aging and HotelPoint. We have tracked the emergence of the BDNY brand and have been extremely impressed by its quality and growth under Michelle’s leadership, and the unique value proposition that she and her team have created. We look forward to supporting its future development and leveraging our broad footprint in the hospitality market for the benefit of all industry participants.”

David Loechner, Emerald’s President and CEO added, “With the purchase of this highly attractive and complementary set of brands, our acquisitions spend so far in 2018 has exceeded $70 million, which is consistent with the range of our annual investment levels over the last few years. We remain committed to our successful strategy of deploying Emerald’s strong cash flows on attractive assets that diversify and strengthen our portfolio while also helping to accelerate our growth. Looking forward, the B2B trade show market remains highly fragmented with numerous acquisition candidates that fit our stringent criteria, and we will continue to leverage our leading market position as we execute our strategy of growing our portfolio through accretive acquisitions.”

“Emerald is the natural and logical home for BDNY and the other assets that we are selling,” said Tedd Swormstedt, ST Media’s President. “I am confident that the resources, scale, industry knowledge and strong team at Emerald will help secure their future growth and continued relevance in the hospitality market.”

Hilliard Lyons Investment Banking, a division of J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, LLC, a comprehensive wealth management firm, was the exclusive financial advisor to the sellers in this transaction. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Emerald Expositions

Emerald is the largest operator of business-to-business trade shows in the United States by net square feet (“NSF”), with most of our trade shows dating back several decades. Emerald currently operates more than 55 trade shows, as well as numerous other events. In 2017, Emerald’s events connected over 500,000 global attendees and exhibitors and occupied over 6.9 million NSF of exhibition space.

For more information on Emerald, please visit www.emeraldexpositions.com.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including assumptions about future industry trends and Emerald’s ability to execute its acquisition strategy to accelerate growth. These statements are based on management’s expectations as well as estimates and assumptions prepared by management that, although they believe to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of Emerald’s control that may cause its business, industry, strategy, financing activities or actual results to differ materially. See “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in Emerald’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. Emerald undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Emerald Expositions:
Philip Evans, Chief Financial Officer
1-866-339-4688 (866EEXINVT)
Investor.relations@emeraldexpo.com

Source: Emerald Expositions Events, Inc.