• by Tony Silber , January 7, 2022

Informa Markets, the world’s largest trade-show producer, has acquired three events from Premiere Show Group, an organizer of regional beauty shows, including Premiere Orlando, the largest beauty trade show in the U.S., with 350,000 square feet of exhibit space and 25,000 attendees.

Premiere Orlando is also among the top 50 largest trade shows in the country.

Premiere Show Group, based in Winter Springs, Florida, also produces Premiere Birmingham, in Alabama, and Premiere Columbus, in Ohio.

The deal was announced by Informa on Friday, and the day before by by Corporate Solutions, the Westport, Connecticut-based M&A brokerage that specializes in events and other media. Corporate Solutions represented Premiere Show Group in the deal.

The three events cover the beauty industry marketplace, including hair, nails, skin care, spa, anti-aging and cosmetics. 

“We are thrilled to add Premiere Show Group to our portfolio,” Ken McAvoy, president of Informa's South Florida Ventures, said in a statement. “Under [Premiere CEO Howard Britt's] leadership, the Premiere team has grown these shows to incredible heights. Premiere Orlando is a perfect fit within our community of art, boating, yachting, powersports and jewelry shows in the region, and we are so pleased to bring these shows and this talented team on board to reinforce our commitment to the Florida region, and to help us continue the growth of one of our highest performing and most resilient sectors.”

“This is a great addition to the Informa Markets portfolio, which owns several beauty-related industry events globally,” Nick Curci, Corporate Solutions president, said. “Howard Britt and his team did a great job building this business from scratch when it was launched 30 years ago to the very successful business that it is today.”

Interestingly, while Informa Markets — one of five divisions of Informa — is buying, the company is divesting elsewhere.

It announced in December that it is divesting Informa Intelligence. Earlier this year, it sold its asset-intelligence unit to Randall Reilly, and in 2019, it sold UBM Life Sciences, plus 20 other brands to Endeavor Business Media, and a group of trade shows and B2B brands to Questex.