It’s much better to be a mile deep than a mile wide.
The specialist consolidator
Informa built the world’s largest B2B events business through acquisition. Under Stephen Carter’s leadership since 2014, the company transformed from a scattered portfolio into a focused specialist — #1 in exhibitions globally, with leading positions in academic publishing and business intelligence.
The approach differs from diversified serial acquirers like Lifco or Constellation. Informa buys depth in chosen verticals, not breadth across unrelated markets. Carter’s phrase captures it: “We do best in nano niches.”
The track record is shorter than the multi-decade compounders. But the methodology is clear enough to study.
Nano niches
Carter’s market selection philosophy is specific: international markets with fragmented supply chains and high margins. Customers focused on value rather than volume and price.
B2B events fit perfectly. The industry was fragmented across thousands of local operators. Each event serves a specific vertical — construction equipment, life sciences, jewellery — with deep domain expertise and captive exhibitor relationships. Margins run 30-35% at the operating level.
The strategy is consolidation within specialist domains, not diversification across them. When Informa bought UBM in 2018 for £3.9 billion, they weren’t entering a new sector. They were doubling down on exhibitions, combining two of the largest global players.
The same logic applied to Taylor & Francis (academic publishing) and the intelligence businesses. Each vertical has its own economics, but the principle holds: build depth where you already have position.
The Accelerated Integration Plan
Informa developed a repeatable integration methodology refined through successive deals.
The template emerged from Penton (2016, $1.6 billion) and scaled for UBM. The principles:
Speed and purpose. Twelve-month integration timeline. Most structural decisions made within six months. The goal is to remove uncertainty quickly — for employees, customers, and investors.
Preserve operating brands. Individual events and publications continue under their existing names with their existing teams. The customer-facing operation stays intact.
Reduce duplication. Integration focuses on corporate overhead, management layers, and shared services. The savings come from combining back-office functions, not from transforming how individual businesses operate.
Vertical organisation. Post-integration, businesses are organised by industry vertical rather than geography or function. This reinforces the specialist positioning.
The UBM integration delivered £60 million in annual recurring cost synergies within the first year. The methodology has since been applied to Tarsus, Industry Dive, and Ascential.
Willingness to sell
Most serial acquirers are permanent holders. Informa is not.
In 2022, Informa divested its Intelligence portfolio for £2.1 billion — roughly 28x EBITDA. The businesses were performing well. But Carter concluded they weren’t core to where the company was heading.
The logic: “We’d rather own fewer things and own them better.” The proceeds funded share buybacks and the next wave of acquisitions in events and digital services.
This distinguishes Informa from the Berkshire-influenced permanent ownership model. The portfolio is actively managed. Businesses that no longer fit the strategic direction get sold, often at premium multiples.
The discipline requires clarity about what you’re building toward. Informa’s answer: specialist B2B markets where they can be #1, with increasing digital and data capabilities layered on top.
First-party data
The newer element of the strategy is IIRIS — Informa’s proprietary customer data platform launched in 2021.
The logic: every Informa event, publication, and intelligence product generates first-party data about B2B professionals. Aggregate that across 50+ million registered users and you have something valuable — intent signals, engagement patterns, professional profiles.
IIRIS creates shared infrastructure across the portfolio. An exhibitor at a construction event can be connected to relevant content from Taylor & Francis or intelligence products. The data compounds as more businesses feed into the platform.
This is where the specialist focus pays off. A diversified conglomerate couldn’t build this — the data wouldn’t connect. Informa’s vertical concentration makes the platform coherent.
Talent as acquisition criterion
Carter emphasises a question most acquirers don’t ask explicitly: “Is there talent in the businesses we’re buying that could become talent in our company?”
The framing treats acquisition as capability-building, not just asset accumulation. Each deal should strengthen the management bench, not just add revenue.
Several Informa division heads came through acquisitions. Patrick Martell, who led the UBM integration, had joined via an earlier deal. The pattern is deliberate.
What the track record shows
Informa’s acquisition-led transformation is a decade old — too short to compare with Danaher’s forty years or Constellation’s thirty. But the results so far:
Operating margins recovered to 28%+ post-pandemic, approaching the 30% target. Free cash flow hit £812 million in 2024 with 100%+ operating cash conversion. The company returns significant capital to shareholders (£675 million in 2024) while continuing to acquire.
The market position is strong. #1 globally in B2B exhibitions. Leading positions in academic publishing and professional events. Emerging capability in B2B digital services through the TechTarget merger.
The limits
Informa lacks the branded operating system that defines Danaher or the systematic capital allocation discipline of Constellation. Value creation comes primarily from market position and scale rather than operational transformation.
The AIP methodology is real but focused on cost synergies — removing duplication, combining overhead. Acquired businesses largely continue operating as they did before. There’s no equivalent to DBS that systematically improves every acquisition.
This may be appropriate for the events industry, where local relationships and domain expertise matter more than standardised processes. But it means the moat is market position rather than operational capability.
The shorter track record also means less proof of durability. The 2014-2024 decade included significant market tailwinds for events (pre-pandemic) and a strong recovery. How the model performs through a full cycle remains to be seen.
The lesson
Informa demonstrates specialist market consolidation — building #1 positions in chosen verticals through disciplined M&A, fast integration focused on overhead, and active portfolio management including willingness to sell.
The approach requires clarity about where you’re building depth. Carter’s “nano niches” filter — international, fragmented, high-margin, value-focused customers — provides the screening criteria. Deals that don’t fit the thesis, however attractive, get passed.
The willingness to sell distinguishes Informa from permanent holders. Businesses that no longer fit get divested, often at premium multiples. The portfolio is a tool for building toward a strategic destination, not an end in itself.
Whether this compounds over decades like the best serial acquirers remains to be seen. The methodology is clear. The proof will come with time.
Connects to Library: Scale Economies · Switching Costs
See also: The ASSA ABLOY Method — Another focused consolidator, different sector, similar scale-through-acquisition logic. The Diploma Model — UK peer with federated acquisition model in technical distribution.