Penningtons acts in sale of aerospace exhibitions business

Penningtons Solicitors LLP has advised the owners of Autointermediates Limited (which trades under the name UKIP Media & Events) on the sale of its Aerospace Exhibitions Division to Reed Exhibitions Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of full listed company, Reed Elsevier Group Plc.

The annual exhibitions included in the sale to Reed are the Aircraft Interiors Expo, Aircraft Interiors Asia Expo, Aerospace Testing Expo, Aerospace Testing North America and Aerospace Design Expo. These market leading international exhibitions are a strong fit with Reed Exhibitions' current portfolio of aerospace events.

To facilitate the sale, Autointermediates was de-merged in accordance with s110 of the Insolvency Act 1986 with the Aerospace Exhibitions business being transferred to a newly formed company which has now been sold to Reed. The remainder of the Autointermediates business - comprising the highly successful automotive and transport exhibitions and related magazine divisions - have been transferred to another newly formed company, UKIP Media & Events Limited. Following the demerger, Autointermediate has been put into voluntary liquidation.

Under the terms of the sale, UKIP Media & Events Limited has agreed to manage Aerospace Testing Expo and Aircraft Interiors Expo 2007 events on behalf of Reed.

Philip Stephenson, corporate partner at Penningtons' Basingstoke office, led the legal team advising the owners of Autointermediates. Philip said: "The sale of the Aerospace Exhibitions Division to Reed represents for Tony Robinson (CEO of UKIP Media & Events Limited) the best way to release capital from this well established business without outside private equity or other involvement in the retained international exhibitions and related magazine businesses to be carried out by UKIP Media & Events Limited. One of the challenges of the deal was to coordinate the de-merger process with the sale process so that the two occurred seamlessly. It has been a pleasure to work with Tony and his fellow shareholder, Rob Kirke, and we look forward to a continued association."