Northstar Travel Group has acquired the hotel investment
event portfolio from Burba Hotel Network, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and their other
partners. BHN produces 10 hospitality
investment events and conferences around the world, including in Los Angeles,
Miami, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Mumbai.
Included in the acquisition is the prestigious
Americas Lodging Investment Summit, or ALIS, the largest and most important
hotel investment conference in the world. Each January in Los Angeles, ALIS attracts the
top hotel industry CEOs and leaders including investors, owners, developers,
lenders, hotel management companies, and the professional advisory community. ALIS is put on in partnership with AHLA, the
leading national hotel industry association. Northstar and AHLA have entered into a long-term partnership agreement
to co-produce the ALIS Group of Events in the US.
Jim Burba (left) and Bob Hayes will continue to run Burba Hotel Network events in cooperation with Northstar Travel Group.
Jim Burba, founder and president,
and Bob Hayes, VP of Burba Hotel Network, and their entire team will continue
to run the BHN events working with Northstar Travel Group. Northstar, the
leading information, event, marketing solutions and technology provider to the
global travel and meetings industry will be able to leverage its databases,
relationships, media properties and domain expertise to help grow the BHN event
portfolio.
“We are thrilled to add the Burba hospitality
events to our growing portfolio of global events serving the travel and
hospitality industries,” said Tom Kemp, chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel
Group. “We have known Jim Burba and Bob Hayes for many years and we believe
that the combination of BHN and Northstar is a great strategic and cultural fit
with our company. BHN has a substantial event portfolio and this will be the largest
acquisition in Northstar’s history. With
the addition of BHN, events
now become the largest segment of
Northstar’s multi-platform solutions serving the global travel industry.”
Jim Burba added, “Finding the right
strategic and cultural partner that offered new capabilities over a range of
areas—event management, digital media and database marketing, to name a few—was very important as we continue to scale our business and offer greater
educational and marketing offerings to the global hotel investment community. I have known the leadership team of Northstar
for many years including Tom Kemp, Alicia Evanko and Bob Sullivan and we are
very excited to be working with Northstar.
“We have been fortunate to work with Jim Burba
and BHN to build one of the most prestigious conferences for our industry and I
couldn’t be more excited for this new strategic partnership with Northstar that
we believe will bring great value and synergies to both parties,” said Katherine
Lugar, president and CEO of AHLA. “I am confident that Northstar will build on
the momentum we’ve created and take the ALIS group of events to the next level.”
In addition to the ALIS Group of
Events, BHN produces HICAP, the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific in
Hong Kong; HICAP Update in Singapore; and AOCAP, the Alternative Ownership
Conference—Asia Pacific in Singapore. HICAP is the largest hotel investment
conference in Asia and one of the longest continuously running hotel investment
conferences in the world. Robert Hecker, Managing Director of Horwath HTL,
based in Singapore, and, along with Stiles Capital Events a co-host of HICAP
said, “We are very pleased to be co-hosting with Northstar Travel Group based
on their focus on the global travel industry and their established footprint in
Asia with operations in Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai.”
BHN also produces CHRIS, the
Caribbean Hotel and Resort Investment Summit in Miami; HOLA, the Hotel
Opportunities Latin America conference in Miami; Hot.E, the Hotel Investment
Conference Europe in London; and HIFI, Hotel Investment Forum India, in Mumbai.
Houlihan Lokey represented BHN and its partners
in the transaction. Paul Hastings provided legal advice to BHN, and Eckert
Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC provided legal advice to AHLA. Macquarie
Capital provided financing for Northstar, and Jones Day served as legal advisor to Northstar. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.