AZBEES_TOPTEN
AZBEES_finalist-2020

This Just In

Mooney and Partners Agree to Sell M/C Communications to Bain Capital

TSE STAFF

Boston, July 19 – M/C Communications is living up to its designation as one of Trade Show Executive magazine’s “Companies to Watch in 2004.”  All eyes are on  M/C as the news unfolds that John Mooney, Founder & CEO,  and his partners, have agreed to sell M/C to the private equity firm of Bain Capital for a substantial multiple. The deal is expected to close in August.

Few details are available at this time but according to TheDeal.com, M/C has climbed to  $32 million in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) and was expected to sell for $400 million or about 12 times EBITDA. Another source pegged the multiple at higher than 12.

Mooney would not disclose any details but told Trade Show Executive magazine that the current management team will remain in place “for the foreseeable future.”

The firm has been an independent entity since 1995 when Mooney, Jack Connors and others bought it from the advertising giant, Hill-Holliday. Since that time, M/C has grown from five employees to over 110 today. (See Trade Show Executive magazine’s April 2004 issue, “The Family Tree of Show Management Firms — Companies to Watch.”) M/C’s flagship event, Pri-Media (Primary Medicine Today) has been cloned into 89 events in the U.S., Europe and Mexico. The firm also has an affiliation with Harvard Medical School, for which it produces a medical education conference.  M/C also  manages the American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Convention & Design Exposition.

M/C Communications is growing at about 30% annually, according to sources.

There has been no official announcement made.  More details will be published as they  become available right here in TSE’s News Online at www.tradeshowexecutive.com.

Reach John Mooney at (617) 406-4001 or jmooney@mc-comm.com.

TSE Data Center