Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE: EEX), a major consolidator of trade shows and business conferences in multiple industries, including owner of the CEDIA Expo and CEPro/Commercial Integrator/Security Sales & Integration, has agreed to be acquired by Apollo Global Management, one of the largest private equity companies in the world that specializes in “alternative assets.” In the same announcement, we learned that Apollo is also acquiring another event consolidation company known as Questex, as part of the same transaction, and which Apollo intends to merge with Emerald.
The deal, in which Apollo will pay $5.03 per share, is said to be valued at approximately $1.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the back half of 2026 and will create one of the largest trade show and conference event consolidators in the U.S.
Read all about the acquisition of Emerald…
Strata-gee reported in December that Emerald had put itself on the market, looking for a buyer. It said at the time that it was reviewing “multiple offers.” This announcement appears to be the result of that effort.
An Unusual 3-Way Deal
The acquisition is an unusual three-way deal that includes another show consolidator similar to Emerald, known as Questex, LLC. Questex owns and produces about 45 events in the U.S., largely in four main industries – Hospitality & Travel, Wellness & Beauty, Technology, and Life Sciences & Healthcare. Major events include: Bar & Restaurant Expo, The Hospitality Show, Be+Well | Beauty & Wellness Show, Digital Signage Experience, Broadband Nation Expo, Pharma Marketing Research Conference, and more.
The announcement by Apollo makes its intentions clear: “Emerald and Questex together would create a scaled B2B events platform with approximately 160 events across complementary end markets, combining Emerald’s category-leading exhibitions with Questex’s differentiated events portfolio and 365-day digital engagement model.”
Questex Financial Terms Not Revealed; Emerald Offer is a 42.1% Premium…Sort Of
The financial details of the Questex portion of the transaction were not revealed, probably due to the fact that, since 2018, it has been owned by private equity firm MidOcean Partners out of New York. However, as mentioned above, Apollo has offered $5.03 per share for shares of EEX stock. This is a 42.1% premium to “Emerald’s unaffected share price – or the price of the stock as of December 18, 2025, the day prior to Emerald’s announcement that it is considering strategic options.
While that sounds like a nice premium for holders of EEX stock, it actually remains below the maximum value the stock reached within the last year of $5.45. Nonetheless, Emerald’s Board of Directors “unanimously” approved the transaction. That is not a big surprise. As I have previously reported, Emerald is 90% owned by Onex, a private equity company. Onex largely influences the Board; in fact, the current Chairman of Emerald’s board is an Onex executive. Onex has entered into “a support agreement” with Emerald, vowing to vote to approve the transaction.
Apollo’s Thinking
What is Apollo’s thinking on this new, even larger event company?
As AI and digital tools rapidly expand the ways professionals connect and share information, they are simultaneously elevating the value of trusted, in-person gatherings, where industries come together to do business, build relationships, and make consequential decisions. Bringing together Emerald and Questex would create a scaled, highly complementary platform that is well positioned to capture that demand. We believe the combined business will benefit from the strength of both organizations’ teams, differentiated content, deep customer relationships, and proven 365-day engagement model, giving the platform a distinct ability to serve its communities year-round and drive sustained growth.
Shahid Bosan, Apollo Managing Director
Apollo Has Been in the News Lately
Incidentally, you may have seen Apollo in the news quite a bit lately. Recently, for a variety of reasons, investors became spooked over the issue of “private credit.” Private credit refers to loans made by non-bank companies like Apollo directly to businesses and other entities. Apollo is deeply involved in private credit and when AI-related investment in data centers caused private equity debt levels to skyrocket, investors got nervous.
When investors freaked out over the exposure of these companies to high levels of private credit debt, they sought to take their money out of providers like Apollo, who took a hit. Apollo (and others) responded by instituting rules limiting the amount of money investors could take out (redemptions). It was controversial and a bit of an image problem for Apollo.
Former Apollo CEO Leon Black was a Pal and Financial Partner of Jeffrey Epstein
Also, Apollo took yet another image hit when its then-CEO Leon Black was discovered to have been deeply involved with Jeffrey Epstein for many years. While he denied knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities, the release of the Epstein files revealed a major financial involvement between Black and Epstein. The controversy over this connection ultimately forced Black to step down as head of Apollo.
So Emerald begins a new chapter in it story with a new owner with likely a new strategy. I will keep a close eye on just where Apollo takes it.
For More Information…
To learn more about Emerald, visit emeraldx.com.
Meet Questex and learn more about the approach it takes to the trade show and business conference exposition market at questex.com.
Finally, you may want to get to know Apollo a little better. If so, check out apollo.com.
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