The award-winning Nineteen Group today announces that it has acquired Western Business Exhibitions (“WBE”). The acquisition of WBE adds another ten events to the Nineteen Group portfolio and seven market-leading trade publications.
WBE is launching ‘The Security Event’ at the NEC Birmingham in April 2019. The Security Event, focused on the channel market of installers, dealers, distributors and resellers is bringing the exhibition back to its roots at the NEC as a National Show. Nineteen Group has over 16 years of security sector knowledge, a community of over 180,000 security professionals and the market intelligence and resources needed to support the ‘The Security Event’ team and the broader portfolio of WBE events and publications.
Nineteen Group CEO, Peter Jones, said, “I couldn’t be more excited about the acquisition of WBE. They are a formidable team who run a great stable of complementary events. As for their launch of ‘The Security Event’ – they are bringing it back home to the NEC and winning the hearts and minds of the industry by stripping it back to its original format.”
In conjunction with the acquisition of WBE, Nineteen Group has received investment from Phoenix Equity Partners. Nineteen Group is continuing its exciting plans for its London shows: International Security Expo, the International Disaster Response Expo and the Safer Cities Summit, which are primarily government, non-government organisation and end-user focused. The investment from Phoenix enables Nineteen to accelerate its vision to grow one of the largest showcases worldwide, bringing a global audience to London.
Peter Jones and the team will be joined by Alison Jackson, who has a wealth of experience in building and running exhibitions businesses such as EMAP, as Group Managing Director early next year.
Jones concluded “I’m really proud of the business we have built at Nineteen; we deliver high quality events with people at their heart. Phoenix’s investment and experience will enable us to seize more opportunities like WBE in the future and to fulfil our ambitious plans for growth.”
Tim Else, Director of Western Business Exhibitions said “The opportunity to take WBE forward as part of the Nineteen Group is hugely exciting. Aligning our complementary events will deliver real benefits for our most important partners, our exhibitors and our visitors alike. Couple this with the experience and strength of Peter Jones’ extraordinary team and the secure backing of Phoenix and we create the perfect environment to ensure rapid growth and the successful return of The Security Event to the NEC.”
Kevin Keck at Phoenix said, “We are delighted to be backing the outstanding team at Nineteen Group. The trade exhibitions market is highly attractive, and we have spent a lot of time searching for the right opportunity to invest in the sector again. Peter has a strong track record in the sector and Nineteen’s current exhibitions provide an excellent platform for future growth.”