Providence Equity to acquire show producer GLM

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/23/2011 8:52:07 AM

White Plains, N.Y. - George Little Management - organizer of the New York International Gift Fair, the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, among others - is being acquired by Providence Equity Partners for $173 million in cash.

The seller is Daily Mail and General Trust plc, which first took a stake in the trade show organization in 2000 and bought out the remaining shares in 2007.

Providence, a private equity firm that specializes in media, communications, information services and education companies, will acquire GLM though a new holding company. That entity will be led by Charles McCurdy, who recently was ceo of Canon Communications, which produces trade shows, publications and digital and data services. "We believe there are significant opportunities to grow GLM's tradeshow brands in the U.S. and internationally both organically and through acquisition, as well as to develop exciting new digital and data services. The company already has a talented senior management team. This will be further strengthened with additional direction from Charlie, who has more than 30 years of experience in managing and investing in niche media, information and education companies," said Michael Dominguez, a managing director at Providence.

Alan Steel, president of GLM, said, "This is a compelling transaction that will allow GLM to benefit from the additional resources and expertise provided by Providence as we seek to further expand our product offerings and accelerate growth."

The transaction is expected to close by the end of next month.