Joelson Wilson act for Clarion Management Team on sale of business to VSS

HgCapital, the European sector-focused private equity investor, has sold Clarion Events Ltd ("Clarion") to the US private equity investor Veronis Suhler Stevenson for an enterprise value of £120.5m. Clarion is the biggest independent exhibition and events business in the UK with a portfolio of 65 business-to-business and consumer shows. This is HgCapital’s second major exit in 2008 and eighth transaction since August 2007. The sale represents a 34% IRR for investors.

Richard Madden, the Close Brothers managing director who led the team that advised HgCapital, commented: “In what has been a difficult time for media companies, it is the strength of the Clarion proposition that generated such a competitive sale process. Veronis has fantastic media sector credentials and a track record of successful buy- and-build strategies. They will be an excellent partner for Clarion.” Macfarlanes acted as legal advisors to the debt provider on the deal, led by Julian Howard. AMR International provided the commercial due diligence for the deal, led by Jim Easton. Joelson Wilson & Co acted for the management team headed by Simon Kimble and Tim Pilcher. Joelson Wilson have acted for Clarion on a number of transactions and have built up an excellent relationship with the Clarion management team.

Sheldon Cordell (who headed up the JW team) commented:

"The challenges in this transaction were those typical of a secondary or tertiary buy-out: the need to work alongside the institutional sellers in putting forward an acceptable sale and purchase agreement, and the need also to work closely with the incoming equity provider’s legal team to agree mutually acceptable equity documentation. Given that the deal was concluded within a six day period, this meant long hours and extremely close cooperation with VSS’s advisers. We have every confidence that Clarion will go from strength to strength under VSS’s ownership. There is no doubt that VSS have got themselves a highly committed and energised management team whose desire is to ensure that the business develops in leaps and bounds."