UBM eliminates Novomania amidst its 'great acquisition' of Advanstar

UBM, global event and trade show organizer, has been busy reshuffling its portfolios. The British arm of the company announced its recent acquirement of Advanstar Communications, the organization behind Las Vegas sourcing and trade fair Magic, as news broke UBM decided

to cancel its Shanghai-based international fashion trade show Novomania for good.

The purchase of Advanstar Communications from its parent company will help boost UBM growing portfolio of 'must-attend' events, although some analysts have noted that the 972 million dollar, or

599 million pounds price tag paid for its new acquisition may have been a little steep in comparison to original estimate of 900 million dollars, or 556 million pounds. But with this latest addition, UBM has taken the number one spot as B2B industry event leader in the US.

Advanstar Communications a "great acquisition" for UBM

“This is a great acquisition for UBM and its shareholders. In addition to being financially attractive, it strengthens UBM's core events business while balancing and complementing UBM's strong events portfolio in emerging markets. UBM will become the largest events organiser in the US – the biggest events market in the world,” commented Tim Cobbold, chief executive officer at UBM on its purchase.

With a new set of fashion trade events under its wing, UBM has decided to cancel its Shanghai-based international trade show Novomania for good. The company had previously canceled Novomania's fifth edition earlier this year, which was set to take place from March 5 to 7, 2014. At the time it remained unclear whether or not the three year old fashion trade show would continue and now UBM has confirmed that the young fashion trade show is no longer running. The decision comes a little over a year after UBM signed an agreement to acquire Novomania from its former organizer, Novo Mania Limited.

Novomania is "no longer running"

Peter Bancroft, director of communications at UBM confirmed the show's cancellation and told FashionUnited: “It is my understanding that the Shanghai trade show, Novomania, is no longer running. This decision to cancel all future shows is part of UBM portfolio management and Novomania is one of the trade shows that did not make it into the final portfolio cut.” Whilst Novomania's website is no longer online, the trade fair's Facebook page remains live.

At Novomania's last edition, which was held during the summer of 2013, the trade show managing director Guilherme Faria revealed plans to run the trade fair seasonally in March and September instead of annually. At the time, the trade show also announced plans for a new show concept and theme, with extra show areas for the now canceled trade fair. Bancroft added that the decision to close Novomania down for good had been made sometime ago, prior to UBM's agreement to acquire Advanstar Communications.

Advanstar runs 54 trade shows and roughly 100 conferences throughout the US, which includes leading annual fashion trade events such as Magic and Magic Souring held in Las Vegas and Fashion Coterie held in New York. Advanstar's CEO, Joe Loggia, will continue to oversee the Advanstar businesses within UBM for a transitional period and will be reporting directly to Cobbold. This addition to UBM portfolio has also fueled rumors that the company is preparing to expand a number of these fashion trade events to Asia, where the company is quite prominent.

UBM's agreement to purchase Advanstar Communications will be financed by 913.7 millon dollars, or 563 million pounds, in gross proceeds from the rights issue in addition to a new 100 million dollars or 62 million pound UBM bridge facility. The deal is expected to add 135 million pounds in revenue to UBM turnover from fashion fair trade, which achieved a turnover of approximately 749 million dollars or 463 million pounds in 2013.

Photos: Novomania's final edition in Shanghai (July, 2013)