Events business Hyve has been acquired in a £1.3 billion private equity takeover.
Hellman & Friedman has moved for the B2B brand, which is behind EdTech conference Bett and events across FinTech, healthcare, MarTech and commerce.
The deal, expected to complete by the end of the calendar year, secures a 3x return for previous owners Providence Equity Partners and Searchlight Capital Partners.
Hyve is the eighth largest event organiser in the world, with 31 events across 18 brands after a string of acquisitions in recent years.
It has delivered three consecutive years of double-digit organic revenue growth and has expanded EBITDA beyond $100 million.
“Hyve has demonstrated a consistent ability to identify the shifts shaping global business early and acting with conviction to capture the opportunity, from spotting high-growth markets in the early years, to pioneering the modernisation of the sector through tech enabled products and matchmaking and more recently expanding the boundaries of the traditional event model,” said Mark Shashoua, CEO.
“We believe Hellman & Friedman’s investment marks the beginning of another exciting new phase for Hyve, as we respond to demand from the world’s leading companies for deeper ecosystems around the industries shaping the future global economy.
“We are excited to partner with H&F, an experienced and highly respected investor with deep expertise across media and growth businesses, as we enter the next phase of our growth, with strong momentum behind us, and significant opportunity ahead.
“I’d also like to thank Providence and Searchlight, who have been exceptional partners in accelerating our transformation, supporting us to scale Hyve into a faster-growing and more diversified business.”
Hunter Philbrick, partner at Hellman & Friedman, added: “As AI reshapes global commerce, we believe the ability to foster human connections and bring people together will be more valuable to businesses than ever.
“Our investment in Hyve is driven by our deep conviction that this will be one of the defining megatrends in the years ahead. We believe Hyve has built an exceptional platform to capture this opportunity – a portfolio of genuinely irreplaceable commercial moments, powered by AI-driven matchmaking that turns a physical gathering into a year-round ecosystem.
“We are excited to partner with Mark and his team to accelerate this vision.”
Andrew Tisdale, vice chairman and Robert Sudo, managing director at Providence, stated: “Over the past three years, we believe Mark and the team at Hyve have achieved a tremendous amount — numerous high-calibre executive hires, seven strategic acquisitions and five key event launches, the roll-out of exciting new tech-enabled services, and significant investments in technology to support the rapid scaling of Hyve’s overall business.
“It has been really gratifying for us at Providence to work alongside Mark and his team to achieve such operating excellence and growth.”
James Redmayne, partner and head of European private equity and Thomas De Cannière, managing director at Searchlight, stated: “It has been a privilege to partner with Mark and the Hyve team through such a defining chapter in the company’s history.
“Together, we have transformed Hyve into a more global, diversified and digitally sophisticated business, with a real focus on operational excellence and long-term strategic value creation.
“We are enormously proud of what we have built together and all of us at Searchlight look forward to watching Hyve go from strength to strength in the future.”
RAN Advisory acted as financial advisor to Hellman & Friedman. Hyve, Providence and Searchlight were advised by LionTree and JP Morgan.
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