Paris Chamber and Unibail-Rodamco join forces on convention centres

Unibail-Rodamco and the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIP) have announced a merger of their Paris-area convention venues which will include ownership, venue management as well as the organisation of exhibitions. The agreement was signed in the presence of France’s Economy, Finance and Employment Minister Christine Lagarde and Minister for Consumer Affairs and Tourism, Luc Chatel.

The new company responsible for ownership and management of the respective venues will be renamed Viparis. The nine Paris area venues contain a total dedicated exhibition surface of 575,000 m². The venues brought to the deal by CCIP were Palais des Congrès in Paris, Parc d'Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte, Palais des Congrès de Versailles, Parc des Expositions de Paris Le Bourget while Unibail-Rodamco brings its Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles, the CNIT, Carrousel du Louvre, Espace Champerret and Espace Grande Arche.

The two companies hold equal shares in Viparis, creating one of France’s leading exhibition organisers. They will account for over 180 exhibitions, representing 35,000 exhibitors and 4.1 million visitors annually.

The first step taken by the new company will be the construction of a new 36,000 m² exhibition hall for Parc d'Expositions Paris-Nord Villepinte. By bringing the total exhibition space to 240,000 m² the hall will become the sixth largest in Europe. The extension project is expected to be completed in 2010 as the first step in eventually bringing the hall’s total exhibition surface to 350,000 m².