Charterhouse Capital Partners agrees sale of Tarsus to Informa to support the next chapter of its growth

March 09, 2023

Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP (“Charterhouse”), one of the longest established private equity firms operating in Europe, today announces the sale of its portfolio company Tarsus Group (“Tarsus”), a leading international B2B events group, to Informa PLC (“Informa”) for an Enterprise value of $940m in a combination of cash and shares.

Acquired by Charterhouse in 2019, Tarsus is a pure play B2B events business with operations in the US, Europe and Asia. It owns and operates a portfolio of over 160 live and online B2B events brands, with a focus on growing specialist B2B markets with fragmented supply chains and high levels of innovation. Tarsus’s events currently attract over 455k attendees and more than 8,300 exhibitors, across a broad range of sectors including Automotive & Transport, Sustainability, Technology and Healthcare.

Following its acquisition of Tarsus, Charterhouse leveraged its prior experience in the sector to back the expansion of the company’s portfolio, delivering 24 new event launches and supporting 11 targeted acquisitions. In 2023, Tarsus continues to benefit from both the reopening of the international markets for B2B events and a very strong rebound in demand by attendees.

As one of the leading international events groups, Informa is ideally positioned to assist the delivery of Tarsus’ ambitious expansion plans and support global growth across its target market segments.

Robert Leeming, Partner at Charterhouse, commented:

“It has been a pleasure working with Doug and the Tarsus team over the past four years. We have supported the company’s expansion through that time, via both targeted acquisitions and the launch of new events. The strategic fit with Informa is compelling and we are confident that Informa will benefit greatly from the value of the Tarsus portfolio. We are also strong believers in the continued recovery of the trade show industry. Informa is very well placed to capitalize on such growth prospects and we look forward to being supportive shareholders in the coming years.”

Douglas Emslie, CEO of Tarsus Group commented, said:

“I would like to thank Charterhouse for their continued support and partnership over the past four years. I am extremely proud of the Tarsus business, our people and our customers. I could not think of a better partner than Informa to lead our brands and colleagues through the next phase of growth and expansion.”