EdisonReport has received the attached announcement from IMC regarding their acquisition of AmericasMart Atlanta that closed today. AmericasMart has been a 1/3 owner of LIGHTFAIR along with the IES and IALD. EdisonReport first published the initial announcement on 26 JUN and how unusual it is that LIGHTFAIR was not mentioned. Today’s announcement mentions furniture, gift, home decor, rug and apparel industries, but not a mention, of LIGHTFAIR–the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference.
Last month your humble editor contacted AMC to see if the sale included AMC’s stake in LIGHTFAIR and a spokesman emailed us the following statement,” …we refer you to the May 15, 2018 press release, which stands on its own merit without further comment.” We followed with a phone call, again asking if LIGHTFAIR was part of the sale and received the exact same answer.
We did hear a tip that the AMC ownership of LIGHTFAIR may have been held in a trust, and the management of LIGHTFAIR was from AmericasMart Atlanta, so theoretically two different organizations may be involved.
Further, EdisonReport has learned that the money behind the IMC-AMC deal, Blackstone, is the same money behind the Penwell acquisition earlier this year. PennWell owns several lighting entities including LuxLive, Lux Review, Strategies in Light, and LEDs Magazine.
We find it very odd that LIGHTFAIR management will not comment either on the record or off the record as to this transaction. As of this writing, the LIGHTFAIR website still shows, “The event is co-owned, produced and managed by AMC, Inc. (www.americasmart.com).”
Now that the acquisition has closed, we expect to finally learn the details.
Developing…