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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sold: Home-show operator for $53 million

It's not exactly a flip, but the company that puts on the Philadelphia Home Show has been sold.

Marketplace Events L.L.C., which is owned by Arkansas-based Stephens Capital Partners L.L.C., bought 38 North American consumer home shows from DMG World Media last week. The price was $53 million, according  to one of the investment banking firms involved in the deal.

The rest of the shows for 2008 will go on as scheduled. The Philadelphia Home Show is usually held at the Convention Center in January.

Near the end of 2007, DMG said it was looking to sell its home shows in North America after 12 years here. 

So it's not just houses sitting on the market for months at a time, right?

DMG produces 250 trade shows and consumer shows worldwide and is a subsidiary of Daily Mail & General Trust PLC.

Here's what DMG chief operating officer Michael Franks says:

The home shows were a significant reason for dmg world media's entry into the North American market in the first place, and we have all enjoyed building the business to where it is today.

Marketplace Events, of Cleveland, retained the management team and the company's almost 100 employees.

It also signed a three-year deal with "Extreme Makeove: Home Edition" host Ty Pennington to be spokesman for the shows. So brace yourself for Pennington's megaphone shout pitch coming next January.
Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 12:21 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor. Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
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