Former WA Newspapers chief executive Ian Law has made his first move as chief of Australian Consolidated Press Magazines Ltd, offloading the company's events and exhibitions arm, Exhibitions and Trade Fairs Pty Ltd, to commercial services company AAV Ltd
Former WA Newspapers chief executive Ian Law has made his first move as chief of Australian Consolidated Press Magazines Ltd, offloading the company's events and exhibitions arm, Exhibitions and Trade Fairs Pty Ltd, to commercial services company AAV Ltd for $13 million.
The acquisition is part of a strategic expansion programme AAV has planned for Staging Connections, its events division.
AAV chief executive Michael Gardner said ETF would add significant expertise to Staging Connections in the area of events, trade shows and consumer exhibitions, developed over ETF's 25-year life span.
Mr Law said the events and exhibitions business had been a good investment for ACP, but the company's focus was now on developing its magazine and other media interests.
The full ASX announcement appears below:
23 June 2006
AAV LIMITED ASX ANNOUNCEMENT
AAV SIGNS HEADS OF AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE EXHIBITIONS & TRADE FAIRS PTY LIMITED
AAV Limited announced today that it has entered into a binding Heads of Agreement to acquire Exhibitions and Trade Fairs Pty Limited (ETF), a leading exhibition organiser and manager specialising in trade and consumer exhibitions in Australia.
The CEO of AAV Limited Michael Gardner said I am very pleased to announce this transaction, which we expect will be the first of a number of acquisitions to expand our Events Division service offerings in Australia and in key global locations. We have today signed a binding Heads of Agreement to acquire ETF for an amount of around $13 million, subject to completion of due diligence and documentation. We expect the due diligence and documentation process to be completed shortly and to finalise the acquisition by 1 September 2006 with the acquisition being funded from existing internal cash resources.
In acquiring ETF, we have identified and secured a strong, profitable business which offers extended and complementary services to our existing Events Division service model and this acquisition is the start of our strategic vertical and horizontal expansion programme for Staging Connections. ETF manages and owns numerous trade shows and consumer exhibitions, and its revenues are derived from annual, biennial and triennial events. The acquisition of ETF will be EPS accretive from day one and will further strengthen our market leading Staging Connections brand in Australia and in the global arena said Mr Gardner.
ETF will also bring to Staging Connections significant additional expertise in events, trade shows and consumer exhibitions it has developed over its 25 year life span. The benefits flowing from the integration of ETF into Staging Connections and AAV will include greater scale of operations, diversification of its business streams and offerings, and improve AAVs shareholder returns.
ETF has grown significantly over the past few years and is now a leading Australian force in its field of expertise. We are excited at the opportunities that the combined businesses can provide to all the existing employees of ETF and look forward to working with the ETF team in building and developing a greatly integrated and efficient events and exhibitions services model said Mr Gardner.
Ben Ashton, CEO of ETF said ETF has enjoyed very strong growth and development of the events and exhibitions business over the last four years and we are delighted to be joining the AAV Limited group and combining with Staging Connections, Australias leading staging and events company, to continue this expansion.
Ian Law, CEO of ACP Magazines Limited, the owner of ETF, said the events and exhibitions business has been a good investment for ACP but our focus is on developing our magazine and other media interests. We thank the staff of ETF for their input and wish them well with AAV Limited.
AAV will make further announcements on the acquisition following completion of due diligence and documentation.
