ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP ACQUIRES STAKE IN U.S. TRADE SHOW MARKET

Rimini, Italy: March 1, 2018 - The Italian Exhibition Group, created by the merger between Rimini Fiera and Fiera di Vicenza, has announced that it has acquired a 51% share in FB International, Inc., a U.S.-headquartered trade show display outfitter. In so doing, IEG has established a strategic foothold in a country that currently represents 43% of the world´s total trade show market, with room for further growth. The U.S. exhibition design and outfitting sector is today estimated to be worth more than $14 billion dollars.

FB International, Inc., (www.fbinternational.com) was founded in 1988 by Italian entrepreneur Fabrizio Bartolozzi, and is managed out of two regional offices: one in Oakland, New Jersey, covering the entire North American East Coast, from Canada in the north, through Miami in the south; and the second in Las Vegas, Nevada, serving the West Coast, down into Mexico. Geographically, this provides the company with strong base to further develop its trade show business, with the company´s eastern headquarters located in close proximity to New York, where the purchase deal with IEG was concluded, and its western headquarters in Las Vegas, America´s trade show capital.

With a number of important patents, FB International has over the years developed as set of exclusively-offered products, has reported consistent profitability, and boasts a customer portfolio that includes several of the world´s largest international trade fair groups, such as Reed Exhibitions, GL Events, Emerald Expositions and several of the leading German trade show organizers.

Lorenzo Cagnoni, IEG President and Chairman: ´Through our purchase of 51% of the shares in FB International, we now hold a major stake in an organization that is able to supply general contracting services and specialized, tailor-made solutions of great value to large companies in the U.S. trade show sector. The agreement will lead to the establishment of a new, 100% Italian Exhibition Group-owned company, to be called IEG USA, which will become the operational instrument for new business initiatives, alongside other services we offer as an Italian trade show operator. We already have further acquisitions in the pipeline.´

Corrado Facco, IEG Managing Director: ´This is a highly important agreement that should be considered in terms of its overall value. It provides our group with an integrated and operative instrument in a trade show market of primary interest, and also a strategic platform for exporting our leading trade show products to the United States, attracting buyers from the world´s largest economies to our shows. Moreover, FB International, which, apart from serving the top American companies, also boasts leading European and international trade show organizers among its customers, raises our international profile, enabling us to cultivate new relations, partnerships and future joint ventures.´

Fabrizio Bartolozzi, FB International Founder: ´After 30 years of providing excellent service and being a recognized leader in the market, with a reputation of caring for details, design and logistics, we have found exactly the right partner in IEG to guarantee a group structure that will allow us to grow energetically, and the same time to promote ÔWell Done and Made in Italy´ through new and ambitious development projects.´

FB International´s new leadership team will be headed by Corrado Facco as President, and Fabrizio Bartolozzi as CEO. Carlo Costa, Deputy General Manager of IEG, will serve as President of IEG USA.


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