Consumer & Retail

Selling a business

Springboard is delighted to announce that it has advised the shareholders of leading pop culture events producer MCM Comic Con on its sale to ReedPOP.

About the deal

MCM Comic Con was co-founded by Bryan Cooney, premiering the show in 2002 as the London Expo. The next few years saw London Expo grow and flourish. In 2004, it rebranded as London MCM Expo – the ‘MCM’ standing for ‘Movies, Comics, Media’; and in 2005, it took the first steps that would transform it from a collectors’ and autograph event into a comic con, with the addition of dedicated comics and anime areas plus film and TV content. More recent years saw MCM spread its wings, launching events across the UK and Europe.

ReedPOP is a boutique group within Reed Exhibitions (itself part of RELX Group), the world’s leading event organizer. ReedPOP is devoted exclusively to organising and managing events, launching and acquiring new shows, and working with premium brands in the pop culture world to deliver once in a lifetime experiences for fans everywhere.

MCM was advised on the sale by Simon Ward and James Bailey.  Simon commented “We are delighted to have delivered this deal for MCM.  Bryan is an outstanding entrepreneur who has built a great business that rightly attracted interest from a number of global players.  That MCM will now be part of the largest exhibition business in the world is an tremendous achievement.”  

How we made a difference

• Identified and engaged with a number of global strategic trade acquirers;
• Managed a competitive sales process , obtaining a number of strong offers from interested parties;
• Negotiated the terms of the transaction to secure a strategic premium and maximise day one proceeds; and
• Project managed the process throughout to preserve value and deliver a successful completion.