City A.M. understands that US private equity firm Blackstone, which owns stakes in businesses such as fashion house Versace and camera brand Leica, is set to buy Clarion Events for around £600m.
Clarion, which is currently owned by Providence Equity Partners, runs a host of large-scale events including several in London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre. The sale is slated to go ahead next week, according to Sky News. Unusually for a private equity firm, Providence has only held the company for just under three years. Providence bought Clarion for around £200m in 2015 from Veronis Suhler Stevenson, which had in turn acquired the business from HgCapital for £120.5m in 2008.