Emerald Expositions Events acquired Connecting Point Marketing Group from lower-middle market private equity firm Corridor Capital, mezzanine investor Aldine Capital Partners and management.

Founded by Nancy Splaine and Kim Haulk in 2004 in Rye, N.H., CPMG organizes and hosts nine senior executive level business-intensive trade events focused on innovation for the hospitality, restaurant, healthcare, grocery and retail industries.

These four-day events are curated, invitation-only forums that bring together leaders in each vertical market. Events include RestaurantPoint East and West, HotelPoint, HealthPoint and StorePoint, among others. 

“We have been innovators in the hosted trade event business, benefitting from growth and change in the industries we serve, and I believe that our events will continue to be an important forum for business to be done in the future,” Splaine said.

She added, “At this point in CPMG’s evolution, we are excited to leverage the experience and market relationships of the various Emerald brand teams, take advantage of Emerald’s resources and infrastructure and bring new capabilities to the Emerald portfolio.”

Under this “hosted-buyer” model, CPMG curates the buyer attendees and covers the cost of travel, hotel and meals for all attending buyers, and then generates revenue from the sale of supplier participation packages and sponsorship opportunities.

CPMG’s proprietary technologies customize the event experience for both buyers and suppliers, and create significant internal efficiencies, a well-conceived user experience and broad data insights.

CPMG has demonstrated strong organic growth since its inception and, similarly to Emerald, benefits from favorable cash characteristics and good visibility into future performance, according to Emerald officials.

The CPMG team of 19 employees, all based in Rye, has more than 165 years of combined experience working in the events industry.

The entire team will join Emerald, and Splaine, senior vice president/general manager of CPMG, will report to David Loechner, CEO and president of Emerald Expositions.

“Nancy, Kim and the entire CPMG team have built a great business with an impressive track record of organic growth,” Loechner said.

He added, “We are very pleased to add CPMG’s best in class capabilities, industry relationships and technologies to the Emerald portfolio, to complement our existing expertise in trade shows, conferences and other face-to-face events.”

Corridor CEO, Craig Enenstein, said, “Corridor Capital has been honored to work with the Connecting Point Marketing Group team to increase its pace of new event implementation, build out more scalable infrastructure and optimize the use of its robust data analytics capabilities. CPMG is a true thought leader in the hosted trade event business offering an exceptional level of service and value to its partners. We believe that the scale and scope of Emerald’s operations and their commitment to preserving the culture of CPMG will only help them improve this offering and reach a broader audience.”

JEGI, an independent investment bank for the global media, information, marketing, software and tech-enabled services sectors, was the exclusive financial advisor to CPMG in this transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.