Informa Market’s SATTE attracts 1,000+ exhibitors

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New Delhi, 10th January: The 27th edition of Informa Markets’ SATTE opened this week at the India Expo Mart venue in New Delhi. SATTE is one of India’s leading B2B travel trade exhibitions. SATTE was held from 8th to 10th January.

The three-day event featured approximately 1,050 exhibitors and it attracted 1,200 international visitors from more than 50 countries. In total, more 30,000 travel and tourism professionals attended the exhibition.

Quick takes

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Informa’s long-time chairman departs 

After 12 years, Derek Mapp will leave the role that he has held since 2008. Mapp oversaw a long list of strategic initiatives including the US$5 billion acquisition of UBM in 2018.

Baidu looks to India

Alibaba has been making investments in India for years. Baidu’s CEO, Robin Li made his first trip to India this week looking for AI talent.

Key sources of Alibaba’s revenues

Alibaba updates could easily fill this newsletter. There is always plenty of interesting articles on the e-commerce giant. Here Forbes breaksdown the group’s revenue sources.

Yes, Alibaba is everywhere. Up next: Africa

Alibaba looks to extend its reach into every corner of the globe. This article reviews the group’s ambitions in Africa.

Abu Dhabi signs deal with PCMA

Abu Dhabi continues to make moves to build its foothold as a key centre of business events in the Middle East.

Hong Kong loses Asia Fruit Logistica to Singapore

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Singapore, 18th December: Despite a three-week (and hopefully permanent) break from violent protests, Hong Kong has suffered its first loss of a B2B exhibition. Until now, there has been one cancelation (Diversified Communications’ Seafood Expo Asia) and one conference led-exhibition relocation to Bangkok (Terrappin’s Asia Rail Expo).

This week, Asia Fruit Logistica (AFL) announced that in 2020, the exhibition will be held at Singapore EXPO. While in Hong Kong, AFL was held at AsiaWorld-Expo.  Next year, AFL will take place from 16th to 18th September at the Max Atria wing of Singapore EXPO. The organiser, Global Produce Events (GPE) cited the violent protests in Hong Kong as the reason for the relocation.

Tarsus acquires TyreXpo from Singex

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Singapore, 16th December: Tarsus Group is on a roll. The organiser has acquired the TyreXpo portfolio of events from SingEx’s organiser arm. This is Tarsus’ third deal in two weeks following the previously announced acquisition of Smarter Shows and Bizbash.

In Singapore, the biennial event is, of course, hosted at Singapore EXPO. This year’s edition reportedly attracted more than 200 exhibitors covering 12,000 m2 and it featured 2,500 professional trade visitors. TyreXpo was launched in 1997 and the event is a good fit with Tarsus’ existing automotive portfolio. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Labelexpo Asia posts record numbers

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Shanghai, 12th December: In other Tarsus news, the group reported that Labelexpo Asia 2019, now in its 9th edition, was the largest to date. The exhibition posted an 18% increase in trade visitors and 26% increase in net space sold.

Labelexpo Asia 2019 was held at Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) on 3rd to 6th December. The four-day show attracted nearly 24,000 visitors and featured 350 exhibitors showcasing the latest label and package printing machinery, technology innovations and related products.

As Chinese incentives grow, SITE partners with ITB China

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Shanghai, 16th December: In sign of the growing importance of China as an incentive travel market, The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) announced a strategic partnership with Messe Berlin’s flagship event in China, ITB China, one of the largest travel trade shows in China. The next edition of the event will be held from 13th to 15th May 2020 in Shanghai.

As part of the partnership, SITE Global will promote ITB China throughout its various marketing channels and SITE will also bring qualified international and Chinese MICE and corporate travel buyers to attend ITB China. Finally, SITE will also offer on-site training sessions during the three-day show.

Quick takes

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HKTDC forecasts a 2% decline in HK exports in 2020

The protests and political unrest begin to bite hard in Hong Kong. This decline follows an 8.6% decline in Q4 compared to Q3 2019.

India’s PayTM raises US$660 million from Softbank and Alibaba

This comes only one month after PayTM raised US$1 billion (billion, not million!) from Alibaba’s Ant Financial and T. Rowe Price Associates. The company's valuation is now at least US$16 billion.

Good summary of some of Q4 exhibition M&A activity

TSNN provides a summary of recent deals involving Questex, AZTQ, Tarsus and a few others.

Alibaba opens research centre in Shanghai

The Alibaba Shanghai R&D Center (also questionably known as “Zhangjiang AIsland”) officially opened this week. The centre’s work will focus on cloud computing and integrated circuits.

Alibaba and Tencent focus on India

At the risk of too much Alibaba this week, we include this article, which is a good take from Quartz on Alibaba’s and Tencent’s incredible appetite for investment.

Quick takes

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A longish take on Why Trade Shows Still Matter

A thoughtful and reasonably optimistic take on the future of face-to-face business events.

A short take on Hong Kong at the CIIE

A happily optimistic take on Hong Kong’s reception at Xi Jinping’s pet project, the China International Import Expo.

Three (non-Asian) acquisitions announced

Tarsus acquired U.K.-based Smarter Shows, an organiser of exhibitions and conference focused on aerospace, automotive and manufacturing. Questex acquired several events and digital brands from Informa which appears to be doing a bit of house cleaning. And finally, EasyFairs bought 100% of a German organiser which focuses on industrial automation.

A busy week for Alibaba’s Joe Tsai

This week, Alibaba’s long-time #2 stepped down from the board of an electric vehicle firm and with some loose change, he bought a US$10 million stake in an e-sports team valuing the team at US$100 million

Singapore Toy, Game & Comic rebranded as Comic Con

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Singapore, 11th December: This week the 12th edition of Singapore Comic Con was held at Marina Bay Sands running for two days on 7th and 8th December. The event was previously known as the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention or STGCC. Organised by Reed Exhibitions, the event was rebranded in early 2019. This year, Singapore Comic Con reportedly attracted over 55,000 visitors.

Softbank make sell its stake in Alibaba

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Tokyo, 10th December: Bloomberg has published an article reporting that Masayoshi Son, founder of the Softbank Group, may sell its stake in Alibaba. Softbank was one of the early and large investors in Alibaba in early 2000.

“Son is likely to sell Alibaba stock to help pay for another buyback in an attempt to bolster SoftBank shares, according to Jefferies Group analyst Atul Goyal. It’s a surprise the Japanese technology giant’s shares are “languishing” despite its large stake in Alibaba, Goyal wrote in a note.”

Wolfram Diener named CEO of Messe Düsseldorf

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Düsseldorf, 4th December: After a meeting of shareholders on 4th December, Messe Düsseldorf has announced that the company has appointed Wolfram Diener as the new President & Chief Executive Officer.

In his new position, Wolfram Diener succeeds Werner M. Dornscheidt who will retire at the end of June 2020 after almost 17 years leading the company. Diener will officially begin as CEO on 1st July 2020.