Penton Media divests European Businesses & Eclipse Properties.

Penton Media, Inc. (Cleveland, OH) has sold its United Kingdom operations (London) to members of the business' management team and other investors, led by Northern Venture Managers (NVM; Newcastle) and U.K. Managing Director Andy Center. Penton retained a 10% interest in the business. The Company also recently completed the sale of 70% of its 50% interest in its Penton Media Germany (Munich) subsidiary to Neue Medien Ulm Holdings GmbH. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Principal assets in the U.K. transaction include: the International Leisure Industry Week exhibition; the Internet World U.K. exhibition and related events; the Service Management Europe exhibition and Service Management Europe magazine; and the Lightspeed European Roadshows. The sale also includes a number of other events and print and online media serving primarily technology and manufacturing markets.

The U.K. transaction does not include Natural Products Expo Europe or Electronic Design Europe magazine, which are managed from Penton's U.S. operations. German assets include the Internet World Germany and Mobile World trade shows. Penton said there would be no significant impact on future earnings as a result of the transactions.

"We regularly review our portfolio to determine what markets and properties provide us with the greatest opportunity for market leadership and long-term growth," said David Nussbaum, Penton's chief executive officer. "We determined that the portfolio we are divesting does not fit our strategic growth objectives as we focus new product innovation on e-media and on leveraging our strong print brands in the U.S. and Asia."

"Examples of this growth strategy at work include movement into China with Electronic Design online and Foundry magazine in digital format; growth of our electronics OEM portfolio through a partnership with DiscoverCircuits.com and the recent purchase of the largest-known power products database; investment in software and strategic partnerships that have already begun to drive solid search-related online revenues for several of our business units; and relaunches of major Web sites, including those of IndustryWeek, Air Transport World, Contracting Business and Hydraulics & Pneumatics."

In related company news, Penton has sold three properties covering the Eclipse platform to BZ Media LLC (Huntington, NY). No terms of the deal were given. The properties include a digital newsletter called EclipseSource, and two web sites, EclipseSource.com and EclipseNews.com. The Eclipse platform is hosted by the Eclipse Foundation, a not-for-profit, member-supported corporation. BZ Media is an associate member of the Foundation and publishes "SD Times."