Apollo buying Emerald Holding and Questex in $1.5B deal

Apollo Global Management announced Monday that it has agreed to get commercialized amusement and events companies Emerald Holding and Questex, with plans to merge them into a azygous B2B events platform.

Under the presumption of the Emerald deal, stockholders volition person $5.03 per stock successful currency — a 42.1% premium to Emerald's unaffected stock terms — implying a closing endeavor worth of astir $1.5 billion, Apollo said. Emerald banal closed Friday astatine $4.57. The terms Apollo is paying for privately held Questex was not disclosed, though it is smaller than the Emerald transaction, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Onex, the concern steadfast that holds much than 90% of Emerald's outstanding stock, has entered into a enactment statement to ballot successful favour of the deal. Apollo is acquiring Questex from backstage equity steadfast MidOcean Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. Emerald's committee approved the transaction unanimously.

Together, the 2 companies would run astir 160 events crossed complementary industries, Apollo said. Among Emerald's offerings are large commercialized shows and conferences specified arsenic Outdoor Retailer, an outdoor sports event, on with e-commerce services for businesses. Questex focuses connected sectors ranging from quality and wellness to travel, hospitality, and beingness sciences, moving its ain commercialized shows and publishing integer media properties specified arsenic Fierce Pharma and Fierce Biotech.

"Bringing unneurotic Emerald and Questex would make a scaled, complementary level that is good positioned to seizure that demand," Shahid Bosan, a managing manager astatine Apollo, said successful a statement, citing the worth of in-person gatherings arsenic AI expands however professionals link online.

Hervé Sedky, president and CEO of Emerald, said successful a connection that the acquisition would supply "enhanced resources, strategical support, and semipermanent superior to accelerate our growth."

The transaction is expected to adjacent successful the 2nd fractional of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and different customary closing conditions. Once complete, Emerald volition beryllium taken backstage and its banal volition beryllium removed from the New York Stock Exchange.

Apollo said it plans to prosecute further acquisitions to grow the combined platform, pointing to the B2B live-events assemblage arsenic fragmented and ripe for consolidation. While Apollo has antecedently held stakes successful experience-driven venues — the Venetian Resort Las Vegas among them — the steadfast has not antecedently operated successful the unrecorded events sector, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apollo reported $1.026 trillion successful assets nether absorption astatine the extremity of the archetypal quarter, crossing the $1 trillion threshold for the archetypal time, with grounds fee-related net of $728 million. The steadfast has acceptable a people of $1.5 trillion successful AUM by 2029.