Informa will buy Clarion Events for £2.24bn in a deal announced on Tuesday, 6 October 2026. The acquisition will bring major gaming trade shows, including ICE and iGB, into the UK-listed events group.

Clarion is headquartered in London and operates more than 100 specialist business-to-business brands. Its portfolio spans gaming, defence and security, electronics, energy and technology.

Informa said the combined live-events business will generate more than £4.2bn in revenue. It will cover about 1,000 brands, more than 40 market categories and over 30 countries.

The deal changes who owns the gaming industry’s biggest trade-show brands, but it does not change gambling law or licensing rules.

Why ICE and iGB matter

Clarion Gaming runs ICE and iGB, two major international events for gambling technology companies, operators, suppliers and affiliates.

ICE is now held in Barcelona. iGB Live is scheduled to take place in London after its relocation from Amsterdam.

For the UK gambling industry, the takeover is more than a change of ownership. It places the sector’s leading trade-show brands inside a group with broader international reach, data services, digital products and large-scale event infrastructure.

How Informa will pay

Informa plans to fund the purchase through acquisition financing and about £940m of new equity. The proposed placing represents roughly 9% of Informa’s issued ordinary share capital.

The company has also paused its current share buyback programme. That will redirect capital towards the transaction.

  • Purchase value: £2.24bn enterprise value.
  • New equity planned: approximately £940m.
  • Expected completion: towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2026.
  • Condition: customary regulatory approvals.

Informa said the deal values Clarion at 11.1 times its expected 2027 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, before identified cost synergies.

Informa expects Clarion to deliver more than £575m in revenue during calendar year 2027, based on its own forecast.

Taylor & Francis moves towards separation

The takeover comes alongside a formal process to separate Informa’s academic publishing arm, Taylor & Francis.

Informa said Taylor & Francis is approaching $1bn in annual revenue. It will review options for the business and report the outcome with its 2026 full-year results in March 2027.

That move would leave Informa more concentrated on business-to-business markets and live events. Reuters reported that the academic business represented about 17% of Informa’s revenue in 2025.

What changes next

The acquisition is not yet complete. Informa expects the transaction to close in the final quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory clearances.

Clarion CEO Lisa Hannant is expected to remain in her role and join Informa’s executive leadership team after completion.

Informa said the first three to six months after completion will focus on keeping Clarion’s existing plans and 2027 budgets on track.

The bigger question for gaming businesses is how quickly the new owner combines event brands, data services, sponsorship opportunities and international expansion.

For UK operators and suppliers, the immediate change is ownership, not gambling law. ICE and iGB remain industry events, not regulatory bodies or licensing authorities.

Their future will now sit inside Informa’s wider strategy to build a scaled global platform for specialist business events.