Emerald Expositions, based in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., will make 15.5 million shares of stock available in the company’s initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange the week of April 24, officials have announced. Running under the symbol EEX, Emerald stock is expected to hover in the $18 to $20 per share range, which analysts say would raise $295 million during the IPO and give Emerald Expositions an overall market value of approximately $1.4 billion.
Trade Show Executive named Emerald the nation’s top show management firm due to its wide repertoire of large shows and the number of its events that dot the best-of and fastest-growing lists among trade shows. The company operates 50 shows currently – 31 of which are on the country’s top 250 shows as ranked by Trade Show News Network – and it is currently serving a half million attendees and exhibitors on 6.5 million net square feet of exhibition space. Emerald events cross a wide array of industry sectors, including gift, sports, design and constructions, technology, jewelry, general merchandise, and more. Its oldest show is more than 110 years old.
Onex Corp, equity owner of Emerald, submitted in its year-end report estimated earnings of $323 million for 2016, which market about a 5 percent increase over the previous period. Much of that gain came from a series of acquisitions folded into the Emerald name throughout the course of the year. Though rumors had been circulating widely throughout the winter and early spring, Onex officially filed for the IPO on March 31, 2017.
