Buying fairs facilitates market access

Buy or do it yourself？ Messe Frankfurt and NürnbergMesse see an international trend for buying trade fairs. But there are many things to consider.

The Frankfurters have already opened their wallets quite often.\"Buying an event is worth considering， if there is already an established industry event within the fair market，\" argues J？rg Seyffart. \"Purchasing a fair facilitates access to a business environment，\" explains the head of the Mergers Acquisitions department of Messe Frankfurt. Developing your own rival event normally takes longer and may be more expensive.\" In addition， its success is uncertain，\" adds Seyffart. The criteria for a purchase include the size and profitability of an event， among other things. Of course， the price plays a certain role， too.

Messe Frankfurt will not buy fairs that do not fit into its portfolio strategically. And： \"For a corporate purchase the compatibility between the buyer’s and sellers’ corporate cultures is a major decision-making criterion，\" points out J？rg Seyffart. This helps avoid the greatest risk of all： \"a failure to integrate the purchase.“ After buying a fair one should therefore pay great attention to a successful integration process. This may take several years. Other potential pitfalls include a lack of information. To minimise the risks of misjudging the market， Messe Frankfurt already performs an intensive analysis beforehand. In addition， it needs to consider possible political risks or currency risks at the investment location for international transactions. In addition， the purchase itself may already constitute a risk in itself. One imaginable scenario is that the staff of the purchased fair（company） abandon ship and take their know-how elsewhere. \"Critical phases can arise particularly in the first twelve months，\" says J？rg Seyffart. \"For this reason we attach great importance to giving this due consideration in the clauses of the contract.\" The Frankfurters believe that the trend of buying new fairs on the international market will gain steam.\"In view of saturated trade fair markets and dense， crowded event calendars purchasing a fair is often a better option than developing one from scratch，\" observes Seyffart. Messe Frankfurt recently acquired Interlight Moscow and integrated it in its Light+Building network.

Nuremberg shares this opinion. \"Fair companies are looking for opportunities increasingly outside their already saturated regular markets，\" says Claus R？ttich. \"Hence， buying new fairs offers an opportunity for fast growth and expanding market positions，\" says the executive board member of NürnbergMesse. \"That is why the international fair industry has seen many new purchases and cooperations over the past few years.“ R？ttich points to the activities of fair companies like UBM and ITE. He believes that this trend will continue and become stronger– except for temporary periods of weakness due to economic crises， for example. NürnbergMesse also takes action when a successful and thematically suitable industry fair exists in a target market.\"Then， of course， one can talk about a full or partial purchase，\" says R？ttich.\"However， it is decisive that the respective event meets our quality requirements abroad – or can meet these requirements within a short term.\" In principle， mergers acquisitions are considered equivalent to own developments or cooperations.

Nuremberg knows the factors that ensure the success of a purchase.\"Especially big projects require absolute secrecy，\" says Claus R？ttich. They can only work if all parties have an absolutely professional attitude. Legal and fiscal differences are a further obstacle. \"When purchasing our Brazilian subsidiary we had to deal with three different legal and fiscal systems，\" R？ttich describes this major challenge.\"American， Brazilian and German.\" It is difficult both for buyers and sellers， to reconcile all these external factors in the contracts. \"To say nothing of the three different time zones where our negotiation partners were located.

The transfer of goodwill is of major importance.\" On the one hand， files， facts and databases are essential for a smooth transfer of the project. On the other， all parties concerned must be prepared to pass on and provide support with the soft contents and contacts，\" says Claus R？ttich. \"Especially in the event sector the transfer of special know-how takes a high priority.\" For this reason NürnbergMesse normally tries to integrate knowledge holders in every acquisition. This may be done through consultant agreements or a variable share of the profits of the future success of the event.\"We have always succeeded in keeping key knowledge holders on board for a long term or have taken them on directly through new service contracts“， says a happy Claus R？ttich.