Phoenix Equity Raises Continuation Fund for Events Group Nineteen
By: Christiana Sciaudone
Phoenix Equity Partners raised a £200 million ($267 million) continuation fund to extend its partnership with event organizer Nineteen Group and Envisage Dental, a non-media/events company in its portfolio.
“We are immensely proud to be able to further scale our business in partnership with Phoenix,” Peter Jones, CEO of Nineteen, said in a statement. “With Phoenix’s backing the Nineteen team has ambitious plans to drive the next phase of growth, through building organically, launching new exhibitions, and further acquisitions.”
A continuation is a second fund raised by the same firm, keeping the asset in-house, likely with a new board. Continuation funds can help in getting LPs payouts while rolling the asset into a new fund and maintaining ownership. Such strategies used to be employed with problem assets but in this case, it may be that Phoenix wasn’t ready to offload a good company at a time of challenging valuations, according to Adam Shaw, global managing director of corporate finance at Collingwood Group.
“They know the business well and can take over the strategy quickly; more quickly than a new owner having to get to know the business and team,” Shaw told A Media Operator on Monday. “We will likely start seeing more continuation funds because we’ve been through a period where interest rates have gone up quickly meaning there’s a valuation gap between buyers and sellers so assets have been held for longer than wanted. Although interest rates are starting to come down, the gap is still there, so these funds provide a liquidity solution for good businesses.”
Phoenix first acquired Nineteen in 2018 and has since added at least five acquisitions to the portfolio, helping double Nineteen’s annual revenue to more than $41 million in 2023 from the previous year. EBITDA also rose to more than $6 million from a loss of $308,000 in 2022.
Private debt fund TDC exited Nineteen as part of the transaction. TDC provided term debt in May 2023 to facilitate the refinancing of a bridge loan, and additional funding in September of that year to support the acquisition of Oliver Kinross. According to a press release by TDC, Nineteen Group increased revenue by 100% to close to nearly $67 million with EBITDA rising to $20 million.
Nineteen organizes large-scale trade events in markets including cyber security, retail technology, manufacturing and engineering. The group also publishes magazines and hosts awards, summits and round tables. Some of its shows include the Commercial Vehicle Show, International Security Expo, and the Build Expos held in Chicago, London, Melbourne, New York, and Sydney. Its New York edition is expected to have over 40,000+ attendees in 2025.
According to Nineteen’s 2023 Companies House filing, these Build Expos came over in a 2023 acquisition of Oliver Kinross Limited for approximately £35.2 million, or $46.4 million. Considering Oliver Kinross Limited never had to publish its full financials, it’s estimated that the business never generated more than £10.2 million of revenue in a year. According to UK-based accounting firm, Moore Kingston Smith LLP:
According to s479 of the Companies Act 2006, small groups are eligible for an audit exemption if their annual turnover is less than £10.2 million (net) or £12.2 million (gross). If the group’s fixed and current assets are worth less than £5.1 million (net) and £6.1 million (gross) or the group has fewer than 50 employees, you are also exempt.
But this would have been a major addition to Nineteen and has contributed to its valuation growth, though specifics are unclear. Phoenix aggregated Nineteen and Envisage (the dental practice) and said the two companies are worth close to £450m.
The continuation fund was led by Kline Hill Partners and co-led by Ares Management. Kline Hill didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Ares declined to comment. Nineteen Group and Phoenix didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“We believe there is significant opportunity for further growth,” Phoenix’s managing partner David Burns said in the statement.
Nineteen operates in a fragmented industry, “providing for ample scope for inorganic growth in addition to high organic growth,” said Elena Laleh, managing director at Kline Hill Partners, in the statement.
Update: Included information from TDC on Nineteen’s revenue and EBITDA.
