On Tuesday, Informa notified shareholders that conference organiser UBM had accepted its offer to join forces and create one of the largest B2B firms in the market.
The London-based events and publishing firm agreed to pay 1.083 of new Informa shares and 163p in cash for each UBM share, unchanged from its initial offer to the target group two weeks ago.
The offer price values UBM at approximately 971p per share amounting to £3.9bn.
In its update to shareholders, Informa said it expects the union to create at least £60m of pre-tax cost savings per year after the businesses are integrated by 2019.
Stephen Carter, Informa’s chief executive, said the union between the two media firms reflects the sector’s trend toward consolidation.
“It is clear that the B2B Market is moving to operating scale and industry specialisation,” he said.
“Our recommended offer for UBM promises to create a leading B2B Information Services Group with the international reach and market capabilities to take full advantage of these trends.”
Informa’s shares shot up on the back of the announcement and were trading 1.4% higher at 697p at the time of writing. The news had a much bigger impact on UBM’s shares, which were 4.4% higher at 908p by mid-morning.
FTSE 100 firm Informa is a staple of several big funds, including the £1.98bn Evenlode Income fund run by Hugh Yarrow and Ben Peters, the £515.72m Invesco Perpetual Income and Growth Fund and the Artemis Income fund, which has a segregated mandate on the St James’s Place platform.
UBM appears in the top 10 holdings of several popular mid-cap funds, like Franklin UK Mid Cap and F&C UK Mid Cap.
