Clarion Events, the owner of ICE and iGaming Business, has been sold to events and academic publishing giant Informa for £2.2bn.
The deal, announced on Tuesday 6 October, ends Blackstone’s nine years of ownership. The private equity firm bought Clarion for £600m in 2017 and was reported to have put it up for sale in May 2025.
Clarion runs the ICE conference and news publisher iGaming Business under its WorldGaming brand. Its portfolio also includes international events across multiple sectors, including defence and energy.
ICE, which is hosted in Barcelona alongside its sister event iGB Affiliate, registered more than 60,000 attendees for the 2026 edition of the conference.
ICE shifted from London to Barcelona in 2025, bringing an end to a 12-year run at the Excel London. The show was previously hosted in Earls Court.
Informa said that following the acquisition of Clarion, the group’s B2B live events arm would generate revenue of more than £4.2bn spread across around 1,000 specialist brands.
The £2.2bn price tag for Clarion represents an EBITDA multiple of 11.x based on expected 2027 performance.
Clarion is also expected to generate revenue of more than £575m in 2027, with adjusted operating profit margins of 30+%
Informa called out Clarion’s gaming arm as a “high growth strategic” category, alongside defence and electronics.
On the defence side of the business, Clarion runs the DSEI conference, while IFA Berlin is one of the world’s largest consumer electronics events.
Informa bosses said the acquisition would create “significant opportunities to deliver cost and revenue synergies, with a particular focus on the international syndication and geo-adaptation of brands”.
Annual run rate operating synergies of more than £50m have been identified, management noted.
“We have also identified significant revenue opportunities through combination, with a targeted run rate of £25m± additional operating profit through incremental revenues by 2029,” Informa added.
The acquisition will be funded via “dedicated acquisition financing and the net proceeds of a circa £940m equity placing and retail offer”.
Informa will also pause its share buyback programme in order to funnel capital to fund the deal.
The transaction is expected to complete in Q4 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
As part of the acquisition, Informa will also divest its academic markets business, Taylor & Francis, to focus on the live B2B events vertical.
Stephen A Carter, Informa CEO, said: “Informa is today accelerating the focus on our core B2B business, as we announce plans to separate our academic markets business, Taylor & Francis.
“The planned separation of Taylor & Francis coincides with further expansion in B2B through the £2.24bn acquisition of Clarion, the UK-based owner of more than 100 B2B live event brands.
“The combination will underscore Informa as the UK-listed, international leader in B2B live events, with annual group revenues exceeding $6bn and underlying revenue growth of 7%±.”
Lisa Hannant, Clarion Events CEO, added: “This marks an important new chapter for our business.
“We have built a portfolio of market-leading brands, established strong positions in attractive markets and created a culture that is recognised across our industry.
“Informa’s decision to invest in Clarion is a recognition of the quality of our business, our brands and our people.
“This is a moment to recognise the outstanding contribution of our teams. Their passion, expertise and commitment have helped build the successful business that Informa is investing in today.”
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Blackstone nearly quadruples its money on the igaming publisher and events group it bought for £600m in 2017
The post ICE and iGB parent Clarion sold to Informa for £2.2bn first appeared on EGR Intel.