CHICAGO — Hyve Group, owner and producer of show brands including HLTH, Manifest, Shoptalk and POSSIBLE, announced it is going to be acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F).
H&F has agreed to acquire the business from current owners Providence Equity Partners and Searchlight Capital Partners. The deal is positioned to strengthen Hyve’s next phase of growth and evolution.
“Hyve has demonstrated a consistent ability to identify the shifts shaping global business early and acting with conviction to capture the opportunity, from spotting high-growth markets in the early years, to pioneering the modernization of the sector through tech enabled products and matchmaking and more recently expanding the boundaries of the traditional event model,” stated Mark Shashoua, CEO of Hyve Group. “We believe Hellman & Friedman’s investment marks the beginning of another exciting new phase for Hyve, as we respond to demand from the world’s leading companies for deeper ecosystems around the industries shaping the future global economy.
“We are excited to partner with H&F, an experienced and highly respected investor with deep expertise across media and growth businesses, as we enter the next phase of our growth, with strong momentum behind us, and significant opportunity ahead. I’d also like to thank Providence and Searchlight, who have been exceptional partners in accelerating our transformation, supporting us to scale Hyve into a faster-growing and more diversified business.”
H&F acknowledged the importance and high value of in-person events in the age of AI in a statement from Hunter Philbrick, Partner at the firm.
“As AI reshapes global commerce, we believe the ability to foster human connections and bring people together will be more valuable to businesses than ever. Our investment in Hyve is driven by our deep conviction that this will be one of the defining megatrends in the years ahead. We believe Hyve has built an exceptional platform to capture this opportunity — a portfolio of genuinely irreplaceable commercial moments, powered by AI-driven matchmaking that turns a physical gathering into a year-round ecosystem. We are excited to partner with Mark and his team to accelerate this vision,” Philbrick stated.
Strong Results Delivered Ahead of Sale
The acquisition comes as Hyve posted three consecutive years of double-digit organic revenue growth and an EBITDA greater than $100 million. In the last three years the company has also went through seven acquisitions and five event launches.
According to Hyve, the company is poised to deliver its “GO27” strategy, focused on growth and optimization, a year early.
“It has been a privilege to partner with Mark and the Hyve team through such a defining chapter in the company’s history. Together, we have transformed Hyve into a more global, diversified and digitally sophisticated business, with a real focus on operational excellence and long-term strategic value creation. We are enormously proud of what we have built together and all of us at Searchlight look forward to watching Hyve go from strength to strength in the future,” stated James Redmayne, Partner and Head of European Private Equity, and Thomas De Cannière, Managing Director at Searchlight.
Events Industry Context: Growing PE Influence
The news of the Hyve acquisition comes just on the heels of the announcement that both Questex and Emerald were acquired by Apollo Management Group, which aims to combine the businesses into a single B2B experiential events and media platform.
Related. Apollo Global Management, Inc., to Acquire and Combine Emerald and Questex
