B2B powerhouse Informa has agreed to acquire  exhibitions giant UBM in a deal worth nearly $6 billion, including debt, reports the Financial Times (subscription required). The merger will create the largest operator of business events and exhibitions in the world.

In a little over a month, it will be March Madness—the college basketball championships. It's a time when "brackets" becomes the most popular word in the American lexicon, and it presents a marketing opportunity for something bracket-related.

The B2B media and information industry let out a collective gasp last Thursday wen Informa announced that it intends to acquire Penton for a whopping $1.56 billion--what appears to be a 10x multiple. 

NEW YORK, September 15, 2016 – MidOcean Partners (“MidOcean”), a premier middle market private equity firm, and Wasserstein & Co. (“Wasserstein”), a leading independent private equity and investment firm, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to sell Penton, an innovative professional information services company, to Informa plc (“Informa”) for $1.56 billion. The consideration will consist of $1.46 billion of cash (plus adjustments) and $100 million of Informa stock. Under MidOcean and Wasserstein ownership, Penton has been significantly transformed from predominantly a print business into a preeminent professional information services company. Penton has successfully completed 13 acquisitions, creating scaled positions in growth-oriented sectors—including agriculture, transportation, natural products/food, infrastructure, and industrial design/manufacturing sectors. Today, Penton has seven of the top 250 ...

When the Design Engineering and Sourcing (DES) Group of SIIA member Penton needed to increase engagement last year in a fun, cost-effective way, it turned to a bracket- and quiz-based STEM Starter Tournament. The DES Group provides information and education on new applications, emerging technologies and product trends for professionals in design engineering and sourcing.