Art Fair: the next MCH investment
MCH Messe Schweiz is selling its stake in Art Düsseldorf. This is the next step in the sale of trade shows that are still in the development phase but not yet profitable.
MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd, a company of the MCH Group in Basel, sells its 25.1 per cent stake in Art.Fair International GmbH in Cologne in equal parts to Angus Montgomery (HK) Ltd and TFI Ltd.
A similar divestment by the MCH Group has already taken place with the "Grand Basel" motor show, which was held in Basel for the first time in 2018 and will be affiliated with the IAA motor show in Frankfurt for the first time this September 2019. This was followed by the cancellations of the traditional public exhibitions Comptoir Suisse in Lausanne, Muba in Basel and Züspa in Zurich, and the trade exhibitions Ineltec and Sicherheit in Basel (Fig.). In the fall of 2018, the MCH Group decided not to pursue its development of a portfolio of regional art fairs any further and to dispose of its participations in this regard.
It is well known that the MCH Group lacks the financial resources for the long-term further expansion of exhibitions that are not profitable. In February 2017, the MCH Group acquired 25.1 per cent of Art Fair International in Cologne following its participation in the India Art Fair in autumn 2016.
At the time, the decline of the flagship trade fair "Baselworld" and numerous trade fairs in Switzerland was hardly foreseeable and strengthening the trade fair portfolio in the field of art seemed to make sense. Not least because even then there was no longer any growth potential for trade fairs within Switzerland's national borders.
In plain language: the MCH Group wanted and needed to grow abroad, but the declining development of the MCH Group within Switzerland and the strained finances mean that a radical concentration on the core business and the leading global exhibitions Baselworld and Art Basel (Fig.) is now necessary. Withdrawing from exhibitions in the process of being established, such as Art Düsseldorf, can only be the right thing to do. Behind the two buying companies are Sandy Angus and Tim Etchells, who are active and well-known in the international trade fair and art market.
What's next for the MCH Group in terms of restructuring? On 22 March 2019, MCH Group CEO ad interim Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard said to Expodata Live Communicationthat the exhibition centers in Basel and Zurich will also have to be sold. The cantons of Baselland, Basel-Stadt and Zurich hold 49 percent of the MCH Group's share capital. Will these shareholders soon take over the exhibition centers in Basel and Zurich (Fig.)? In February 2018, the cantonal government of Zurich decided that the exhibition location Zurich North (within the MCH Group) should be further strengthened.
