7th Feb 2006 07:07
Expomedia Group PLC07 February 2006 7 February 2006 EXPOMEDIA GROUP PLC Realignment of co-operation The Board of Expomedia Group plc ("Expomedia") announce that they are toterminate the joint venture with Informa plc which organises conferences inRussia, Hungary, Poland and India. This follows Informa's recent purchase of IIRHoldings Limited ("IIR") which has a substantial conference presence in thoseterritories. Expomedia will now take full ownership of Informedia, the joint companyestablished by the two parties and which presently organises over 200conferences. Informa and Expomedia will continue to co-operate on stand-aloneevents on a project basis. As part of the new agreement, the Expomedia Employee Benefit Trust will buyInforma's shareholding of 1.7m shares in Expomedia at £1.20 per share. Informa will make a payment to Expomedia in respect of compensation andtermination costs and amounts due for the setup and trading losses of the jointventure. Additionally, Mr Paul Hannen, Director of Conferences, Eastern Europe - InformaGroup, will be joining Expomedia as Managing Director of conferences andpublishing from 1 April 2006. Peter Rigby, Chief Executive of Informa said: "Our relationship with Expomediahas been invaluable in establishing a base in, and an understanding of, thesefast growing markets. Our acquisition of IIR with its substantial EasternEuropean operations has necessitated a change in both groups' strategies. Wewish Expomedia well and expect to continue to work together on projects in thefuture." Mark Shashoua, Chief Executive of Expomedia said: "I would like to thankInforma for contributing to the success of the ventures we established.Henceforth under the sole operational management of Expomedia, the Boardbelieves that the Informedia business will continue to develop rapidly, and Ilook forward to working with Informa and its business units on other projects inthe future. We welcome Paul Hannen, who has been instrumental in establishingInformedia within our Group. We believe his depth and experience in both theconference and publishing industries will be a great asset to Expomedia." -Ends- Enquiries: Expomedia Group Plc Tel: 020 7376 3300 Mark Shashoua Judy Elvey [email protected] Bishopsgate Communications Ltd Tel: 020 7430 1600 Dominic Barretto Maxine Barnes [email protected] This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Informa