Launching, growing and selling media businesses

Webinar: Preparing for Sale – Outlook 2021-23

“What you have to do to sell your business is what you have to do to build a great company.”

Covid-19 has disrupted the M&A market for media and information businesses. Many sale processes have been abandoned or postponed, and trade buyers have significantly reduced their activities.

This is a good time to review exit plans. During a downturn, strong businesses continue to attract premium valuations, but companies that are not optimised for value are much less likely to be sold.

Sale preparation is also very often the best driver for value creation. Focusing on value drivers simplifies businesses, increases investment in core products and builds management capabilities.

With insights from major buyers and entrepreneurs who’ve successfully exited, this webinar will help owners, founders and CEOs of independent information and media businesses to plan and prepare for sale, and to maximise sale value.

This webinar is intended to help CEOs of independent information and media businesses to structure and develop high performance, scalable sales teams.

The webinar will be hosted on Thursday 22nd October – 15.30 – 17:00 BST.

 

Speakers – Meet the Entrepreneurs


Mike Woolfrey, CEO, VIXIO 

Mike led the management buy-out of ComplianceOnline (since rebranded Vixio) in 2019, backed by Kester Capital. He has held a variety of senior executive roles in b2b media and information companies, including CEO of 4C.

 

Kieron Osmotherly, Founder & CEO, Tower Exchange 

Kieron Osmotherly founded and led TowerXchange, a specialist research and events company in the TMT space. The company was acquired by Euromoney. Kieron previously held senior events leadership roles, including MD of TMT at Clarion Events.

 

Daniel Pitchford, Director, Collingwood Advisory, Co-Founder, Futurum Media

Daniel co-founded and built a market-leading hybrid digital community / events business in the enterprise AI space, selling to Informa within 18 months of launch. He provides M&A and value creation advice to Collingwood’s clients. Daniel is also a venture partner with SuperSeed, a Seed stage fund which invests in SaaS startups with high levels of recurring revenue.

 

Piers Bearne, Founder & CEO, Collingwood Advisory

Piers Bearne has built and sold three events businesses and is a director and co-founder of two hybrid events/digital publishing companies. Collingwood advises independent media companies on value creation and exit.

 

Speakers – Meet the Buyers

 

Stuart Poyser, Group Director of Corporate Development, Informa

Stuart has been head of Corporate Development at Informa since 2015, with a remit that includes strategy, M&A, integration and – since the arrival of COVID – scenario planning.  Over that period, acquisitions and divestments have been a frequent feature of Informa’s strategy, including in information services, B2B media and events.  Prior to Informa, Stuart was an investment banker with Citigroup for 14 years, covering TMT clients in London and New York

 

Dan Adler, Partner, Apiary Capital 

Dan is an active investor in the media and information sector through his role at Apiary Capital, a UK lower mid-market private equity firm. Apiary invests in the education, healthcare, business and technology services sectors.

 

 

Nick Blair, Founder of the Dubai Muscle Show and Dubai Active

Nick is the Co-Founder of Dubai Muscle Show and Dubai Active, collectively the largest fitness exhibition in the MENA region. He  spent the first 5 years of his professional career in exhibition sales for Terrapinn and later Informa Middle East.

Audience, Topics and Takeaways

This webinar is for founders, CEOs and owners of independent information, media and events companies.

Topics & Takeaways 

  • Focus your leadership team on drivers of enterprise value
  • What trade and private buyers are looking for in acquisitions
  • Criteria for a strong rolling three year plan
  • Get your (dataroom) house in order: legal, financial and commercial preparation

 

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