2010 News Releases

05 March

UBM acquires Sign China tradeshow for $10.7m

Strengthens UBM Asia's exhibition & visual communications platform in China

UBM today announces that it has acquired 70% of Sign China, the fastest growing Chinese sign exhibition, on behalf of its UBM Asia business for a cash consideration of $10.7m, with a further performance-related consideration of up to $3.9m.

Launched in 2003, Sign China has become the fastest growing and most international tradeshow for the sign industry in China. The show exhibits sign, advertising and visual communication equipment, as well as advanced printing and engraving machinery, materials, software and supplies. Exhibitors also show finished Point Of Purchase products, display systems, lightboxes and neon lighting. This year's show took place from 2nd to 5th March in Guangzhou's largest purpose-built exhibition venue. More than 1,000 exhibitors occupied around 70,000 square metres of exhibition space, 15% more than the 2009 show. 55,000 advertising industry professionals are expected to have visited this year's show.

The acquisition gives UBM Asia further exposure to China's $74 billion advertising market, the second largest in the world. Sign China's strong position as a leading sign and advertising industry exhibition will provide UBM Asia with a solid base to develop its business into digital production, digital signage, network and interactive advertisements. The business will complement UBM Asia's recently announced integrated marketing event Technology for Marketing & Advertising China to be held in Shanghai in August 2010. This event is a ‘geo-clone’ of a successful event run by UBM Live in the UK.

Sign China employs 20 staff and generated revenues of more than $4m in 2009. The acquisition is anticipated to exceed UBM's cost of capital criterion in its first full year of ownership.

Jime Essink, President & CEO of UBM Asia said:

"The acquisition of Sign China will add another industry-leading event to our portfolio, as well as provide a springboard for UBM Asia's further expansion into South China and beyond. The addition of Sign China complements our recent launch of Technology for Marketing & Advertising China and helps us build a comprehensive group of media products for the Chinese advertising industry."

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Contacts

Notes to Editors

1. UBM
UBM is a leading global provider of events; data, marketing and information products; print products; and targeting, distribution and monitoring services to specialist business communities. Our 5,800 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

For more information, go to www.ubm.com

2. UBM Asia
UBM Asia operates in 13 market sectors with headquarters in Hong Kong. We have over 130 media products in three categories: trade fairs, print and B2B portals. As Asia's leading exhibition organiser and the biggest commercial organiser in the two fastest growing markets in Asia: China and India, we stage the leading events of their kind across Asia. Our 110 events attract an annual attendance of 30,000 quality exhibitors and 1,270,000 visitors from all over the world to meet their target business partners face-to-face for business matching and networking. We publish high-quality trade publications for 191,000 industry professionals to capture the market trends and industry news. Complementing our exhibitions and publications are round-the-clock and industry-specific online B2B portals which provide a series of online trading networks, industry news hub and sourcing and marketing platforms for the world's trade buyers and suppliers. We have over 650 staff in 15 major cities in Asia.

For more information, go to www.ubmasia.com

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