ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP WAS CREATED ON 1ST NOVEMBER 2016
· Ten years have passed since Fiera di Rimini and Fiera di Vicenza merged
· An operation whose success can be seen in today’s numbers
· A book to celebrate the anniversary
iegexpo.it
Rimini, 30th October 2026 – Ten years of unstoppable growth, all to the benefit of local regions, shareholders and stakeholders. The idea that led to Italy’s first-ever trade show merger was truly a stroke of genius.
On November 1st, Italian Exhibition Group will be celebrating an important anniversary: the merger between Fiera di Rimini and Fiera di Vicenza on 1st November 2016, which resulted in the establishment of IEG – Italian Exhibition Group.
An initiative strongly advocated by the then president of Fiera di Rimini, Lorenzo Cagnoni, who went on to become the president of the newly formed IEG. Matteo Marzotto, who at the time presided over the Vicenza company, was appointed vice president.
On 28th October 2016, at the press conference announcing the merger, attended by the then mayor of Rimini, Andrea Gnassi (now a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies), and the mayor of Vicenza, Achille Variati (who later became a Member of the European Parliament), a cake in the form of a jewel, created by master pastry chef Roberto Rinaldini, was cut to symbolically celebrate Rimini and Vicenza’s top two products: Sigep and Vicenzaoro.
A merger between trade show companies that is still unparalleled to this day in our country, one that, in the years that followed, would firmly place IEG among the world’s top 20 trade show organisers.
The exceptional growth achieved in these ten years can be seen in the numbers.
When the two companies merged, the IEG Group had 270 employees, almost all based in Italy, and a turnover of 119 million euros. By the 2025 financial year, production value had reached 266.4 million euros and the workforce had risen to over 800 employees worldwide.
Three years after the merger, on the morning of 19th June 2019, the company achieved its historic listing on what was then Borsa Italiana’s MTA (Mercato Telematico Azionario—Electronic Stock Market) with a positioning price of 3.69 euros. The stock’s value has since quadrupled.
According to IEG President Maurizio Ermeti, “These ten years have made us into a major international trade show player—something we could not have become on our own: an event organizer that competes with the top global players. We now have a new, solid home for the gold and jewellery sector in Vicenza, which will secure the future of that community. And in Rimini, we have a project for extraordinary expansion work that will attract important trade shows from all over the world.”
“Within the European trade show landscape,” says Corrado Peraboni, CEO of IEG, “we are a unique case. Not just a simple merger, but an industrial project capable of transforming distance into value. Over the past ten years, IEG has demonstrated that a multi-site model can grow, innovate and compete on a global scale without losing its deep-rooted connection to the local territory.”
Carlo Costa, currently Chief Corporate Officer at IEG, who was personally involved in the merger, concludes: “The ‘IEG project’, with the participation of its shareholders, and the subsequent integration process have resulted in a growth and professional maturity that has enabled us to embark on decisive initiatives, such as our stock market listing and the international expansion we have pursued in recent years. Thank you, IEG!”
IEG Group is currently focused on the objectives in its 2025–2030 Business Plan, which targets consolidated revenues of between 360 and 365 million euros by the end of the plan period.
This coming December, to mark its tenth anniversary, IEG will publish a commemorative book chronicling the company’s global evolution between 2016 and 2026. The book will also be available as an e-book, downloadable free of charge from all the online platforms.
PRESS CONTACT ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP |
head of corporate communication & media relation: Elisabetta Vitali| press office manager: Marco Forcellini, Pier Francesco Bellini | international press office coordinator: Silvia Giorgi | press office coordinator: Luca Paganin | press office specialist: Nicoletta Evangelisti, Mirko Malgieri | press office assistant: Julia Andreatta
This press release contains forecast elements and estimates that reflect the management’s current opinions (“forward-looking statements”), particularly regarding future management performance, realization of investments, cash flow trends and the evolution of the financial structure. For their very nature, forward-looking statements have a component of risk and uncertainty, as they depend on the occurrence of future events. The effective results may differ (even significantly) from those announced, due to numerous factors, including, only by way of example: food service market and tourist flow trends in Italy, gold and jewellery market trends, green economy market trends; the evolution of raw material prices; general macroeconomic conditions; geopolitical factors and evolutions in the legislative framework. Moreover, the information contained in this release does not claim to be complete and has not been verified by independent third parties. Forecasts, estimates and objectives contained herein are based on the information available to the Company as at the date of this release.
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