New Olympia owners will aim to grow fairs division

St James Capital, a private property fund, have taken a controlling stake in the business that includes the show organisers Clarion Events. They have pledged to expand the fairs programme with the existing Clarion management team.

The change in ownership will have no immediate impact on the established antique fairs. Last week a spokesman for Andrew Morris assured the Antiques Trade Gazette: “The new owners are very much committed to the exhibition business, including the antiques fairs. It is very much business as usual.”

St James’s Capital, who are financed by Nomura, have appointed their own managing director, Anthony Lyons, as the new Earls Court and Olympia chief executive.

Mr Lyons said he and the board planned to expand the business both in the UK and across Europe.

“This is an amazing opportunity to purchase two landmark central London assets totalling 1.3 million sq ft and on a site of 42 acres,” he said. “The key challenges before us are to expand and develop the existing exhibitions and events business on a national and European basis, whilst maximising shareholder value by developing the real estate potential at the two properties. We look forward to working with the existing management teams, all of whom are staying with the business.”

As well as developing the exhibitions business, this also means forging ahead with plans agreed last year for MGM Mirage to create a casino on part of the Olympia site, subject to planning consent and the Government’s proposed deregulation of the gaming industry. The agreement plans to transform Olympia 2 into a venue comprising restaurants, retail outlets, bars and a Las Vegas-style casino.

The one unknown is exactly how the takeover will affect the future of Sotheby’s auction rooms at Olympia. In a recent interview with the Antiques Trade Gazette, the chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, Robin Woodhead, said he couldn’t be certain that the company would stay at Olympia after their current lease ran out in 2006, although he said that Sotheby’s were committed to having a major secondary saleroom in London.

Sotheby’s Olympia managing director Michael Bing confirmed that talks were ongoing and that the change in ownership had not altered their position. Talks over the future of the auction house at Olympia were ongoing, he said, and despite Earls Court Olympia’s hopes of opening a casino complex, the plans were still only hypothetical, because of the hurdles of current gaming laws and planning consent.

St James Capital is run by leisure entrepreneurs David Coffer, Anthony Lyons and Simon Conway, who will all sit on the new board of management, alongside Derek Vago who co-heads Nomura AFG with Gary Wilder.

St James Capital is a property investment fund established in 1999. It has assets across the UK of over £275m – prior to the purchase of EC&O.

St James Capital acquired Earls Court Olympia from a consortium comprising a group of senior staff, led by chief executive Andrew Morris of the Morris Family Group (who are reported to have made £60m on the deal after running the business for five years) and private equity groups Candover and L&G Ventures, who, in turn, bought the business from shipping company P&O in 1999 for £183m.

The deal was made possible by Candover releasing their 60 per cent controlling stake.

Mr Morris (who becomes non-executive chairman) said the group was keen to move into the German exhibitions market, which is currently still state-owned.

The board are also looking at possibilities in Geneva and are bidding for a tender for a new exhibition and convention centre in Dublin, he said, adding, “There is a real synergy between St James Capital and EC&O which makes this deal both special and timely. SJC bring valuable leisure industry experience to EC&O which supports the company’s vision of creating a world-class, landmark leisure and exhibitions business for London.”