Listed European property giant Unibail-Rodamco has announced the planned sale of 50% of its event organiser joint venture, though it remains committed to its portfolio of 11 Parisian convention and exhibition centres.
Listed European property giant Unibail-Rodamco has announced the planned sale of 50% of its event organiser joint venture, though it remains committed to its portfolio of 11 Parisian convention and exhibition centres.
Unibail-Rodamco and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris Ile-de-France
(CCIR) said on Tuesday that they have entered into an agreement to sell 50% of Comexposium - their event organisation joint venture - to European private equity firm Charterhouse.
The transaction values the full Comexposium business at €550 mln.
Unibail-Rodamco and the CCIR merged their Convention & Exhibition activities in 2008 by creating two entities: Viparis, in charge of managing the venues, and Comexposium, the event organisation business.
Comexposium brought together Exposium, the events entity of Unibail-Rodamco, and Comexpo, the events organization business of the CCIR.
Comexposium is now the fourth largest exhibition organiser worldwide with more than 135 exhibitions, representing 38,000 exhibitors and 3.5 million visitors per year. However, Unibail-Rodamco's 50% stake in Comexposium represents less than 1% of the group's €34.6 bn of total assets.
As part of the Agreement, Unibail-Rodamco and the CCIR have granted Charterhouse an exclusivity period during which the work councils of the group and Comexposium will be consulted about the proposed sale. The signing of the final and binding documentation is expected to take place in the second quarter of Q2 2015.
Unibail-Rodamco and the CCIR said they will remain long term partners in Viparis, which owns and operates a major portfolio of convention and exhibition centres. Viparis most recently committed to invest €500 mln to refurbish the Porte de Versailles venue.
