Northstar Travel Group acquires CAT Media

CAT Media is a leading global multiplatform business-to-business marketing services, information and events business serving the meetings and incentive industry.  

CAT Media owns leading brands serving the UK and global MICE industry including Meetings & Incentive Travel (M&IT), Association Meetings International (AMI), Meetpie.com, an online membership portal for meetings professionals, M&IT Challenges, M&IT Awards, Intellectual Capitals, Venue-Source.com, and ConventionSource.com.

“The combination of the CAT Media portfolio with Northstar’s market leading The Meetings Show in London creates a strong multiplatform marketing services, information and event portfolio in the MICE sector,” said Thomas Kemp, Chairman & CEO of Northstar Travel Group.  “Both Northstar Meetings Group and CAT Media have been industry leaders not only through our respective brands, but through the innovative ways we’ve advanced them. We’re excited to merge the best practices of both through this acquisition.”

“We are pleased to complete this transaction with Northstar to create scale and a multiplatform media, events, and marketing services business serving the UK and European MICE and incentive industry,” said Martin Lewis, Managing Director of CAT Media. “After 32 years of developing our activities in this fast-changing market, this is a good time to marry our products with Northstar to give our business the critical mass and enable it to become part of a truly global media footprint in the travel and events business.”

“We’re delighted to welcome the CAT Media brands to the Northstar family,” said David Chapple, Portfolio Director, Northstar Travel Media UK.  “Taken together with the Meetings Show, the UK’s largest MICE-industry hosted buyer show, and Northstar’s leading brands including Meetings & Conventions,  Successful Meetings,  Incentive,  Meeting News and SportsTravel in North America, and M&C Asia and M&C China in Asia, the addition of CAT Media extends our breadth and depth in service of supporting the meetings industry.”

About Northstar Travel Group

Northstar is the owner of well-known brands including Travel Weekly U.S., TravelAge West, Travel Weekly China, Travel Pulse, Business Travel News, Successful Meetings, Meetings & Conventions, Incentive, M&C China, Meetings & Incentive Travel, Association Meetings International, Meetpie.com, Sports Travel, Travel42, Axus Travel App, Agent Studio, and Web in Travel.

The company produces more than 85 face-to-face events in 13 countries in retail travel, hospitality, corporate travel, travel technology, sports travel, and the meetings & incentive industry.  Leadership events include the Phocuswright Conference, ALIS, The Business Travel Show, the largest corporate travel event in Europe, The Meetings Show, the largest meetings industry event in the UK, Web in Travel, CruiseWorld, Global Travel Marketplace, and TEAMS, the leading sports travel event.

In addition, Northstar owns Phocuswright, the leading research, business intelligence, and event producer serving the travel technology industry.

Northstar Travel Group owns the Burba Hotel Network, the leading producer of hotel investment events globally, including ALIS, the largest hotel investment conference in the world produced with the American Hotel & Lodging Association in Los Angeles each year.

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, golf, activities, hospitality, and specialty destination travel markets.

Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company has offices in New York, NY; Westampton, NJ; Stowe, VT; Denver, CO; Edwards, CO; Burlington, VT; Los Angeles, CA; Costa Mesa, CA; Lombard, IL; and global offices in London; East Grinstead, UK; 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 New York based private equity and investment firm. It manages capital on behalf of global institutional and individual investors. EagleTree’s private equity funds invest primarily in the media and business services, consumer products, and water and industrial sectors. For more information, visit www.eagletree.com.

About CAT Media

CAT Media is Europe’s largest specialists in the meetings and events industry, with print, digital and face-to-face audience engagement products developed over the company’s 32-year lifespan. CAT Media dominates the UK, international association and Indian markets with quality magazines, web sites, direct marketing and live events. CAT’s web-based products include venue search engines like VenueSource and Convention Source while its footprint has expanded recently into social media and video services in addition to email and direct mail to bring buyers and suppliers together with modern and engaging content delivery. The highly successful M&IT Challenge events in agency, corporate and association sectors have underpinned the industry’s biggest and most prestigious awards recognition program and the only industry awards event independently audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. With 1300 attendees, the M&IT Industry Awards is the biggest evening in the European events calendar. The event has raised more than £1 million for charities Save The Children and Meeting Needs.

CAT Media has been the architect of many industry initiatives like National Meetings Week and was a founder of the industry charity, Meeting Needs, while its British Meetings & Event Industry Survey is the definitive buyer-side market research study.

To learn more about CAT Media go to www.meetpie.com