Blackstone Funds Complete Acquisition of IMC

September 27, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Acquisition, Business Strategy, Economic News, Industry   

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

IMC had been owned by Bain Capital Private Equity, L.P. and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., since the company was formed in 2011.

Fireside Investments also partnered with Blackstone on the latest acquisition.

“This marks an exciting time for International Market Centers,” said Robert Maricich, CEO of IMC. “We look forward to working closely with our new partner, Blackstone, during our next phase of growth. Blackstone is a firm with a strong track record of enabling transformational change and shares our long-term vision for the business.”

“Blackstone is excited to partner with IMC’s top-tier management team to drive continued growth of this industry leader,” added Andrea Serra, a managing director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities group.

Blackstone is one of the largest real estate investors in the world, with over $104 billion of assets under management across its opportunistic, core, private REIT and debt funds, and has made investments with a total enterprise value of over $4 billion in Las Vegas since 2013.

Blackstone said it plans to support the continued growth of the company and has significant financial capacity to invest additional capital for future redevelopment, development and acquisition opportunities.

IMC operates 12.2 million square feet of exhibition space in High Point and Las Vegas, catering to over 2,000 exhibitors. The company said its mission is to build and operate an innovative, sustainable, profitable and scalable platform for the furnishings, home decor and gift industries.

“We are extremely proud to leave behind a strong, stable and well-capitalized platform comprised of world-class exhibition space assets that attracts buyers and exhibitors from around the world and delivers an efficient and rewarding market experience. We are confident that the business is well positioned for its next phase of growth, happy that it continues in safe hands and deeply appreciative of the management team who led us on this journey and will continue to steward the business through its continuing success,” said Ryan Cotton and Phil Loughlin, managing directors at Bain Capital and Kaj Vazales, managing director at Oaktree.