Hyve Group to Be Acquired by Hellman & Friedman in Major Deal Backed by Demand for Premium B2B Events

Welcome to the latest edition of Snöcap.

Another week, another major deal reshaping the B2B events landscape. Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has agreed to acquire Hyve Group, a transaction that reflects just how attractive premium events businesses have become to institutional investors. With Hyve reporting three consecutive years of double-digit organic revenue growth and EBITDA surpassing $100 million, this is a deal that will be talked about across the industry for some time. Scroll down for the full story.

Here are the full headlines from this week’s roundup:

Get the full stories below:

Hyve Group to Be Acquired by Hellman & Friedman in Major Deal Backed by Demand for Premium B2B Events

Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has agreed to acquire Hyve Group from Providence Equity Partners and Searchlight Capital Partners, in a transaction that underscores continued investor appetite for B2B events businesses.

The deal, expected to close by the end of the calendar year, comes as Hyve reports three consecutive years of double-digit organic revenue growth. Key financial metrics from the company include:

• EBITDA has expanded beyond $100 million
• Hyve’s three-year growth and optimization strategy, “GO27,” is on track to be completed a year ahead of schedule
• Under Providence and Searchlight, the company completed seven acquisitions and five event launches

Hyve has built its portfolio around events in healthcare, ecommerce, edtech, supply chain and martech, with a model that layers content, intelligence, matchmaking and membership services onto its core gatherings.

Hellman & Friedman partner Hunter Philbrick cited the intersection of artificial intelligence and human connection as central to the firm’s thesis. “As AI reshapes global commerce, we believe the ability to foster human connections and bring people together will be more valuable to businesses than ever,” Hunter said. “Our investment in Hyve is driven by our deep conviction that this will be one of the defining megatrends in the years ahead. We believe Hyve has built an exceptional platform to capture this opportunity — a portfolio of genuinely irreplaceable commercial moments, powered by AI-driven matchmaking that turns a physical gathering into a year-round ecosystem. We are excited to partner with Mark and his team to accelerate this vision.”

Hyve CEO Mark Shashoua framed the transaction as the start of a new growth phase. “Hyve has demonstrated a consistent ability to identify the shifts shaping global business early and acting with conviction to capture the opportunity, from spotting high-growth markets in the early years, to pioneering the modernisation of the sector through tech enabled products and matchmaking and more recently expanding the boundaries of the traditional event model,” Mark said. “We believe Hellman & Friedman’s investment marks the beginning of another exciting new phase for Hyve, as we respond to demand from the world’s leading companies for deeper ecosystems around the industries shaping the future global economy.”

Outgoing investors reflected on the company’s transformation during their tenure. Andrew Tisdale, vice chairman at Providence, and Robert Sudo, managing director, said the period had seen significant operational progress. “Over the past three years, we believe Mark and the team at Hyve have achieved a tremendous amount — numerous high-calibre executive hires, 7 strategic acquisitions and 5 key event launches, the roll-out of exciting new tech-enabled services, and significant investments in technology to support the rapid scaling of Hyve’s overall business,” they said. “It has been really gratifying for us at Providence to work alongside Mark and his team to achieve such operating excellence and growth.”

Snöball partners with MICEtribe to Turn Registrations Into Growth Engine

Snöball has announced an integration partnership with MICEtribe, an event management and registration platform, connecting the two systems to help organizers convert the moment of registration into an attendee acquisition channel.

The integration links MICEtribe’s registration and onsite platform with Snöball’s peer-to-peer referral marketing solution. When someone registers through MICEtribe, their data flows into Snöball, which activates them as an advocate through personalized campaigns. New registrations generated through those campaigns flow back into MICEtribe.

Snöball counts Informa, DWTC, Clarion Events, Terrapinn and IAEE among its clients. MICEtribe powers registration and onsite experiences for organizations including FIFA, TED, Dubai World Trade Center and Qatar Foundation.

Rachel Stephan, Snöballer-in-Chief at Snöball, said: “Event marketers shouldn’t treat registration as the finish line. It’s the starting line for acquisition. The moment someone registers for an event is the moment they’re most excited to share it. MICEtribe captures that moment beautifully, and Snöball builds on it, turning every new registrant into a potential growth channel from day one.”

The partnership is positioned for the Gulf and wider EMEA market, where the integration supports referral activity across channels including WhatsApp.

Snöball campaigns convert shares to sign-ups at an average rate of 31.9%, according to the company. The integration is available now to joint customers of both platforms.

Oman CEC CEO Said Al Shanfari Elected Incoming President of UFI

Said Al Shanfari, chief executive of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, has been elected incoming president of UFI, the global exhibitions industry association, for the 2027-28 term.

The UFI Board of Directors made the decision, which takes effect at the 93rd UFI Global Congress in November 2026. Said will assume the presidency in November 2027 at the 94th UFI Global Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Presidential Trio for the November 2026 to November 2027 term will be:

• Wolfram Diener (President & CEO, Messe Düsseldorf Group) — President
• Panittha Buri (Vice-Chairperson, Bhiraj Buri Group) — Outgoing President
• Said Al Shanfari (CEO, Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre) — Incoming President

Said brings experience in marketing, destination development and venue management across the Middle East and Africa. He chairs UFI’s Middle East & Africa Chapter and appeared on the Forbes Middle East Tourism Leaders list in 2024 and 2025. The Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre hosted the 89th UFI Global Congress in 2022.

The announcement came as the UFI European Conference concluded its 2026 edition in Izmir, Turkey, where exhibition industry leaders from across Europe and beyond gathered from June 3 to 5, hosted by Turkish exhibition organizer IZFAS.

It was a milestone week for the global exhibitions community, with June 3 also marking Global Exhibitions Day 2026, celebrated under the theme “Exhibitions Drive Opportunities.”

Said said: “I am deeply privileged to be selected as UFI’s Incoming President, representing not only our industry, but also the growing voice and contribution of the Middle East and Oman on the global exhibitions stage. This appointment is not only a personal honor, but a reflection of the significant potential of the exhibition industry to shape economies, industries, and societies worldwide. I strongly believe that our industry’s greatest strength lies in its unique ability to bring people, ideas, cultures, and opportunities together under one roof creating meaningful connections and real economic and social impact across borders. Together with our international members and partners, I look forward to building a stronger, more connected, innovative, and sustainable future for the global exhibition community, while continuing to position our industry as a powerful driver of progress and opportunity worldwide.”

Northstar Travel Group Strengthens Collaboration With Explori

Northstar Travel Group has signed a global enterprise agreement with Explori, expanding the use of Explori’s event measurement and benchmarking platform across Northstar’s portfolio of more than 100 industry events, including ALIS, Business Travel Show, Phocuswright, CruiseWorld and The Meetings Show.

The agreement gives Northstar access to Explori’s AI-powered analytics to measure attendee and sponsor experience, track performance and generate audience intelligence across its portfolio.

Alicia Evanko, executive vice president of global events at Northstar, said: “Proprietary data, our platform, and applied AI, that is how Northstar delivers better outcomes for our audiences and marketing partners. Explori adds a critical measurement layer to that ecosystem, giving us a high-definition view of audience and sponsor value across our portfolio that we can act on in meaningful ways.”

Alicia added: “Sponsors and exhibitors will have a clearer line of sight into the value they are receiving from our events, while attendees will benefit from experiences that continue to improve year over year. That is the standard we are holding ourselves to across the organization.”

Mark Brewster, CEO and founder of Explori, said: “We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Northstar Travel Group. This is an organization we have greatly enjoyed working with over the years, and an enterprise agreement was always a natural next step. We look forward to continuing to work closely together to help optimize event performance, audience satisfaction, and commercial growth across their event portfolio.”

The deal marks Explori’s 36th enterprise deployment globally. The company works with organizers including Informa, Clarion, Diversified, Comexposium, Access Intelligence, MCH Group and IMEX.

Who is hiring?

Lowe’s Careers | Director – Corporate Events

LaunchDarkly | Head of Events and Field Marketing

Forrester | Sr Marketing Manager, Global Events

Twilio | Sr Global Events Manager

Atlassian | Head of Event Technology