Informa agrees £2.24bn deal for ICE organiser Clarion
Events group Informa has agreed to buy Clarion, the organiser of ICE, the gambling industry's biggest trade show, for £2.24 billion.
The numbers behind the deal
The price works out at roughly 11 times Clarion's expected EBITDA. Informa says that falls to about 9 times if it delivers £50 million of planned cost savings, and to 8 times once an expected £25 million rise in operating profit is included. The purchase is funded by a dedicated acquisition loan plus an equity raise of around £940 million aimed at institutional and retail investors. Completion is expected at the end of Q4 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
- Deal value: £2.24 billion.
- ICE 2027 runs in Barcelona on 18–20 January under Informa ownership.
- Clarion CEO Lisa Hannant stays on and joins Informa's leadership team.
What Clarion brings
ICE left London's ExCeL for Barcelona in 2025, while the affiliate conference iGB Live moved from Amsterdam to ExCeL the same year. Clarion's portfolio also includes defence show DSEI, IFA Berlin and Distributec. Informa chief executive Stephen A. Carter said the combination strengthens the group's B2B events business.
Why players should care
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Source: SBC News, 6 October 2026. This article is based on publicly reported news; our editors summarised and rewrote it for TelegramCasinos readers.