Burba Hotel Network (BHN) is excited to announce that its hotel
investment event portfolio has been acquired by Northstar Travel Group.
This acquisition was completed in collaboration with BHN’s partners,
including the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). BHN
produces 10 hospitality investment events and conferences around the
world, including Los Angeles, Miami, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and
Mumbai. This partnership makes events the largest segment of Northstar’s
multi-platform solutions and adds a new level of expertise and
resources to BHN’s growing event portfolio.
Jim Burba commented, “Finding the right strategic and cultural
partner that offered new capabilities over a range of areas – event
management, digital media and database marketing, to name a few – was
very important as we continue to scale our business and offer greater
educational and marketing offerings to the global hotel investment
community. I have known the leadership team of Northstar for many years
including Tom Kemp, Alicia Evanko and Bob Sullivan and we are very
excited to be working with Northstar.”
Jim Burba, founder and president, and Bob Hayes, VP of Burba Hotel
Network, and their entire team will continue to run the BHN events
working with Northstar Travel Group. Northstar, the leading information,
event, marketing solutions and technology provider to the global travel
and meetings industry will be able to leverage its databases,
relationships, media properties and domain expertise to help grow the
BHN event portfolio.
BHN’s global portfolio of events include: the Americas Lodging
Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles; ALIS Law in Los Angeles; ALIS
Summer Update; Alternative Ownership Conference Asia Pacific (AOCAP) in
Singapore; Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) in
Miami; Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) in Hong Kong;
HICAP UPDATE in Singapore; Hotel Investment Forum India (HIFI) in
Mumbai; Hotel Opportunities Latin America (HOLA) conference in Miami;
and Hotel Investment Conference Europe (Hot.E) in London. As part of
this acquisition, Northstar and AHLA have entered into a long-term
partnership agreement to co-produce the ALIS Group of Events in the US.
“We are thrilled to add the Burba hospitality events to our growing
portfolio of global events serving the travel and hospitality
industries,” said Tom Kemp, chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel Group.
“We have known Jim Burba and Bob Hayes for many years and we believe
that the combination of BHN and Northstar is a great strategic and
cultural fit with our company. BHN has a substantial event portfolio and
this will be the largest acquisition in Northstar’s history. With the
addition of BHN, events now become the largest segment of Northstar’s
multi-platform solutions serving the global travel industry.”
Houlihan Lokey represented BHN and its partners in the transaction.
Paul Hastings LLP provided legal advice to BHN, Eckert Seamans Cherin
& Mellott LLC provided legal advice to AHLA. Macquarie Capital
provided financing for Northstar, and Jones Day served as legal advisor
to Northstar.
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About Burba Hotel Network
BHN is the worldwide leader in developing and organizing conferences for
the hotel and tourism investment community. With three decades of
experience, over 140 events completed to-date, and nearly 100,000
international delegates, BHN conferences have become “must attend”
events for industry leaders who come together to network, conduct
business, and to learn about the latest trends. BHN events include: the
Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles; ALIS Law in
Los Angeles; ALIS Summer Update; Alternative Ownership Conference Asia
Pacific (AOCAP) in Singapore; Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment
Summit (CHRIS) in Miami; Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific
(HICAP) in Hong Kong; HICAP UPDATE in Singapore; Hotel Investment Forum
India (HIFI) in Mumbai; Hotel Opportunities Latin America (HOLA)
conference in Miami; and Hotel Investment Conference Europe (Hot.E) in
London. The BHN website at www.burba.com
is the gateway for information about the conferences BHN produces, as
well as a direct link to important players in the hospitality investment
world.
About the American Hotel & Lodging Association
Serving the hospitality industry for more than a century, the American
Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the largest national
association solely representing all segments of the 8 million jobs the
U.S. lodging industry supports, including hotel owners, REITs, chains,
franchisees, management companies, independent properties, bed and
breakfasts, state hotel associations, and industry suppliers.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy,
communications support, and educational resources for an industry that
advances long-term career opportunities for employees, invests in local
communities across the country and hosts more than one billion guests’
stays in American hotels every year. AHLA proudly represents a dynamic
hotel industry of more than 54,000 properties that supports $1.1
trillion in U.S. sales and generates nearly $170 billion in taxes to
local, state and federal governments. Learn more at www.ahla.com.
About Northstar Travel Group
Northstar is the owner of well-known brands including Travel Weekly,
TravelAge West, Business Travel News, Successful Meetings, Meetings
& Conventions, Travel Weekly China, Incentive, M&C China, and
Web in Travel. The company produces more than 60 face-to-face events in
13 countries in retail travel, hospitality, corporate travel, travel
technology, and the meetings industry. In addition, Northstar owns
Phocuswright, the leading research, business intelligence, and event
producer serving the fastest growing segment of the travel industry,
online travel distribution. Northstar is also the majority shareholder
in Inntopia, the leading SaaS e-commerce software, CRM database
marketing and predictive analytics business serving the mountain
destination, activities, and specialty destination travel markets.
Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company also has offices in New York, NY;
Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Winston-Salem, NC; Stowe, VT; Glen Ellyn,
IL, and global offices in Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai.
Northstar Travel Group is owned by funds managed by EagleTree Capital.
About EagleTree Capital
EagleTree Capital (formerly Wasserstein Partners) is a mid-market
private equity and investment company focused on the media and
communications, consumer products and water and industrial sectors. The
firm manages capital on behalf of institutional and individual investors
and is currently investing EagleTree Partners IV. EagleTree Capital is
located in New York. For more information, visit www.eagletree.com.