XPO Acquires North Port Events Shows

XPO Exhibitions, NZ’s largest trade show organiser announced today it has acquired nine of North Port Events shows.

The acquisition includes The Baby Shows, The Food Shows (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch), Fine Food New Zealand, Facilities Integrate, The Waikato Home & Garden Show, Autumn HomeXPO and excludes Auckland Art Fair which will remain with North Port Events.

XPO managing director Brent Spillane says the company is thrilled to acquire events of such quality “Dona and Gavin White and the whole team from North Port Events are held in the highest regard by the thousands of exhibiting businesses and tens of thousands of visitors who frequent these shows annually” says Spillane. “The profile and stature of these events compliment those already organised by XPO and the acquisition injects significant new scale and talent.” he says.

The purchase will combine more than 40 staff, lifting XPO’s portfolio to that of the largest independently owned B2B and B2C exhibitions organiser in Australasia.

XPO originally purchased DMG World Media NZ’s trade shows in 2009 (part of the Daily Mail Group UK) before adding Hayley Media’s trade shows a few years later. With this acquisition XPO is positioned to add a new layer of value – for exhibitors and visitors alike – by combining best in market event teams and event technology.

“Our sector expos now span food & beverage manufacturing and retail, general manufacturing, packaging, baby, gift and homewares, build construction and design, home shows, facilities management, wholesaling, workplace safety, logistics and more” says Spillane. “Each show serves the largest national attendance for each market, both at exhibitor and visitor level. We’re confident there will be strong cross-pollination across events.” he says.

XPO will run 18 shows in 2020 with more than 3,500 exhibiting companies and host 150,000+ visitors* with the Consumer Events headed up by North Port’s GM Rebecca Stewart and the Trade Events headed by XPO’s Event Director Tony Waite. Both bring extensive industry and media experience to help shape the best from their team and offerings – no doubt focussed on increasing the economic footprint of the shows, having evidenced more than $1.81B in visitor buying power to XPO’s Auckland shows alone.**

XPO entered into high traffic consumer exhibitions in Auckland last year with Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds, viewed by more than 98,000 kiwis, before touring it across in Sydney and Melbourne. “North Port and XPO have deep ties with global organisers keeping an eye out for new events to bring to market. We will keep doing this, however our core focus for now is a seamless transition of the North Port team and portfolio.” says Spillane.

Dona and Gavin White husband and wife owners of North Port Events are comforted to see the shows move from one kiwi-owned family business to another. “It’s been an emotional journey having launched many of these shows and we’ve taken great pride overseeing their growth and success. Over the 25 years we’ve been organising these events, we’ve celebrated many wins with our clients, visitors and staff, but we’re now at a point where we’re pleased to hand them over to XPO to keep evolving them. While the sale will be a big change for us personally, we remain committed – alongside our daughter Hayley, and co-director Stephanie Post – to running the Auckland Art Fair which keeps going from strength-to-strength.”

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