Sentinel Capital Partners Buys Home and Garden Show Company Marketplace Events

February 3, 2016

Private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners bought Marketplace Events, which organizes home and garden shows in the United States and Canada. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are very excited about our investment in Marketplace Events," said Michael Fabian, a partner at Sentinel. "We seek to invest in niche market leaders, and Marketplace Events is the clear leader in the North American home and garden show industry.”

He added, “Moreover, the business was extremely resilient during the 2008 economic downturn and should benefit from positive tailwinds in the home remodeling and repair sector in the years ahead."

Headquartered in Solon, Ohio, Marketplace Events organizes and operates consumer shows targeting the home improvement and enthusiast market, including remodeling, home decor and gardening.

Marketplace's show portfolio is comprised of 44 total events, including 29 U.S. home and garden shows, 13 Canadian home and garden shows and two holiday boutique shows.

The shows bring together 14,000 exhibitors, 1.5 million consumers and 1.5 million unique Web visitors on an annual basis.

Marketplace expanded its portfolio rapidly in the past few years, including the acquisition of Casa Latina Home Expo, Edmonton Renovation Show and two more home shows in Raleigh, N.C.

Marketplace Events employs 110 people across 12 offices in North America. The organizational structure, operations and employee base of Marketplace Events are not affected by this transaction. All current shows and staff will continue with the business.

"We have never been more confident in our business model or our future than we are now," said Tom Baugh, Marketplace Events' CEO. "Our shows provide an invaluable face-to-face meeting place for our exhibitors and consumers. We believe our partnership with Sentinel will allow us to accelerate our growth. Although we will continue to launch new shows, the biggest single change will be our ability to make strategic acquisitions more aggressively."

The company expects to announce six new shows by the end of February 2016, which will take the portfolio to 50 total events.

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