UBM targets significant Asian presence with Allworld acquisition

UBM has splashed $485m in a cash deal to purchase organiser Allworld. The deal is a bid to corner the market for business events in Asia and the Middle East. Tim Cobbold, UBM’s boss, said the AllWorld deal would accelerate the company’s ambitions because it is “wholly in line with our ‘events first’ strategy”. Privately held Allworld has offices across Asia and in Bahrain, and generated revenues of $97.2m during the 12 months ending 30 June by organising 51 trade shows in 11 countries and across nine industry sectors. The deal caused shares to jump 3.5 per cent higher on Tuesday morning to 735p before easing back to 714p over the afternoon. The news comes as AMR’s statistics reveal UBM is closing the gap on rival organiser.