Bonhill’s UK and Asian brands are the £6.5m ‘bonus’ for MAG
In what it describes as a “very significant purchase”, the Mark Allen Group has traded the equivalent of £6.5m in its acquisition of the UK and Asian assets of wealth management publisher Bonhill Plc.
These assets include: Bonhill Create, Portfolio Advisor, Expert Investor, International Advisor, Fund Selector Asia, ESG Clarity and Future Flows.
The offer will now go to Bonhill shareholders for approval over the next two weeks. The American branch of the company, investment news, is sold separately.
Mark Allen, founder and CEO of his namesake company, said, “This is a very significant acquisition for us. We are inheriting some fantastic brands that we intend to develop further with the help of an excellent and professional team of around 50 people worldwide.
“Wealth management and financial services is an area of considerable interest and will broaden the range of sectors in which we operate. The acquisition also gives us a foothold in Singapore and Hong Kong, a part of the world where we have long wanted to be present.”
Mark Allen added: “We have had to work very hard and intensely over the last few weeks to get to this point. Although this is essentially an asset sale, local law required us to acquire Bonhill’s two Asian businesses. I would like to thank Jonathan Glasspool, Bonhill’s Chairman, and Patrick Ponsford, CEO, for the professional and very fair manner in which they negotiated this deal. I am delighted that Patrick Ponsford will be joining us to lead the new MA Financial Media company.”
Chief Executive Officer Ben Allen explained that Bonhill’s assets would be brought into a new company, MA Financial Media, with Patrick Ponsford at the helm, reporting to the group’s Chief Operating Officer, Jon Benson. Patrick will be a director of the new company along with Gareth Wilde, Bonhill’s COO and MD Asia, and Hannah Lishman, Head of Commercial Finance. For the next year, the Bonhill team will remain in their current offices in Clerkenwell.
“This is a very exciting time for the Mark Allen Group,” said Ben Allen, “it is a unique opportunity for us to enter an attractive area and continue to grow the business. Jon and Patrick will make an impressive team and I am really looking forward to working with them.”
Patrick Ponsford, CEO of Bonhill Group, says: “It is a pleasure to join our market-leading brands as part of a true B2B media company that really understands what we do and how we do it. Being part of this larger group with access to new technology and data platforms will help us accelerate our growth plans. It has been a difficult few years with COVID impacting our sizeable events portfolio and a new home will help us rebuild and grow the business.”
Assuming shareholder approval, this will be the Mark Allen Group’s fourth transaction this fiscal year. The first of these was Rainan exhibition, conference and networking event for the regeneration industry based in Liverpool.
This was followed by the acquisition of EMEX, a net zero and energy management trade show. The most recent purchase, in November 2022, was Sterling Events, another Liverpool-based company with two exhibitions to its name. health and well-being at work And Primary care and public healthwhich take place in March and May at the NEC in Birmingham.
The Mark Allen Group is the UK’s fastest growing independent media company. Latest audited accounts to March 2022 show turnover of £60m, up 37% year-on-year; an EBITDA of £13.1m, up 28%; and North’s pre-tax profits up 54%, from £6.1m to £9.3m.
For more information contact:
Mark Allen mark.allen@markallengroup.com
Ben Allen ben.allen@markallengroup.com
Jon Benson jon.benson@markallengroup.com
Patrick Ponsford patrick.ponsford@bonhillplc.com
