Upper Street Events has been acquired by Livingbridge
Arrowpoint Advisory's TMT sector team is pleased to announce the vendor initiated management buy-out of Upper Street Events, a leading UK consumer events organiser, supported by private equity company Livingbridge.
The buy-out sees the purchase of the majority shareholding of USE from its current owners, the Morris family, for an undisclosed sum.
USE currently organises 17 premium shows across the UK and Ireland, the new investment will support the team in continuing to develop existing shows, launch new event concepts, while delivering even more creative and current content to engage audiences, exhibitors and brands alike.
Based in Islington, London, USE is a leading B2C events business, owning a portfolio of market leading events including, London Art Fair, Festival of Quilts, Caffe Culture, The Knitting and Stitching Shows, New Designers, Move It, Perform, Language Show, The Gadget Show Live, The Cycle Show and Country Living Fairs.
“The Morris family along with their CEO, Dominic Jones, have been incredibly supportive in the development of Upper Street Events,” commented Paul Byrom, Managing Director of USE. “Their investment in the company and support of our growth strategy has been essential to our success. With great support from Arrowpoint Advisory and Tim in particular I am delighted to have found such a good cultural match with our new investors and am excited by the scale of events media business we can now develop with Livingbridge and our new chairman Phil Soar.”
“We have been extremely impressed by the team,” said Matt Upton of Livingbridge “In particular, their real focus and insight into how to engage with their audiences. Their grasp of current trends and innovations across all their event sectors provides a great foundation to develop the existing portfolio and introduce new concepts. B2C events are forming an important part of the marketing mix for brands, providing face to face contact with relevant consumers in what is otherwise an increasingly remote digital relationship.”
Daniel Domberger, Managing Director at Arrowpoint Advisory, added: “Paul, Isobel and Daniel have an excellent reputation for organising very successful and well-known shows and I'm confident they will make a great success of growing and developing the business with the support of Livingbridge.”
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