T&F Informa agrees to acquire IIR Holdings.

T&F Informa (London), a publisher of business, industry and academic materials, has reached an agreement to acquire conference organizer IIR (Institute for International Research) Holdings (Dubai/New York) for $1.4 billion. The purchase would increase T&F Informa's penetration into the U.S. market from about one-third of its annual revenue at present to about 40%. The deal would also give T&F an entry into the performance-improvement business, which now accounts for about half of IIR's revenue.

IIR organizes approximately 1400 conferences each year, including such events as the Disease Management Congress, ProjectWorld and the National Congress on Medicaid and Medicare, with about 500 of those conferences held in North America. The company also publishes more than 2500 print and web-based products and provides performance-improvement services to about half the Fortune 500 companies as well as the U.S. government agencies. IIR has 47 companies operating in the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East and had 2004 revenues of about $573 million, an increase of 20% over 2003 revenues, and EBIDTA of $87.8 million, up 105.3%. T&F Informa said the acquisition will enhance 'significantly' the company's earnings per share in the first full financial year.

T&F Informa CEO Peter Rigby said the deal "extends our events business and gives us a substantial and immediate position in the rapidly-growing performance improvement market. We know the IIR events business well and it will clearly complement our existing events business, geographically and by sector. IIR's performance improvement business, with its highly respected brands, strong market positions and high cash generation, is a unique opportunity to enter an attractive market which we see as offering strong recurring revenue streams."