Easyfairs Belgium has confirmed plans to launch a voluntary and conditional public takeover bid for all shares in Xpo Group, the company behind business-to-business event brand and the operator of the Kortrijk Xpo.
Announced in Brussels on 13 May 2026, the move is backed by the boards and management teams of both companies.
Two organisers, two complementary portfolios
Easyfairs is one of the largest pan-European event groups, running well over a hundred event titles across more than a dozen countries and operating its own exhibition venues (Flanders Expo, Nekkerhal, Antwerp Expo, ...) alongside its organiser business. Xpo Group brings a different but adjacent set of strengths: Architect@Work, a travelling format that presents technical innovations to architects and interior designers across roughly 30 regional editions, and Solar Solutions, which has grown into one of Europe's largest trade fairs for solar professionals. Its portfolio reaches into construction, interior design, sustainability, marketing and communication, food, retail and technology - verticals with limited overlap with Easyfairs' core packaging, logistics, manufacturing and industrial shows.
Why 'geo-cloning' is the operative term
In the announcement, Easyfairs leadership pointed explicitly to geo-cloning: the practice of taking a proven event concept and replicating it, edition by edition, in new geographic markets. It is a model Easyfairs has used to scale much of its own portfolio, and Architect@Work is itself a textbook example, already running in more than a dozen countries. For Easyfairs, the strategic appeal is a ready-made library of formats it can roll out across its existing European network, which since late 2025 also extends into the United States.
A venue comes with the deal
The bid also covers Kortrijk Xpo, a multipurpose exhibition site that hosts its own calendar of trade and public fairs each year. Easyfairs already runs a sizeable venue-management arm next to its show business, so an additional owned venue fits a model the group knows well - though venue operations are typically a lower-margin, more capital-intensive part of any exhibitions group.
Part of a longer consolidation story
The deal is the latest in a sustained wave of mergers and acquisitions reshaping the European exhibitions industry, as larger groups absorb successful independents and their geo-clonable formats. For exhibitors and event professionals, scale can bring more integrated services, deeper data and wider international reach. It can also mean fewer independent organisers competing on format and price - a trade-off worth watching as the sector concentrates.
What the leadership said
Easyfairs framed the two businesses as sharing the same DNA: highly targeted, innovation-led events rooted in regional communities, with Architect@Work cited as a prime example of that approach. Xpo Group CEO Saskia Soete described the combination as the opening of a new chapter for the group's communities and people, subject to the offer completing.
What happens next
The bid remains conditional. It requires approval of a prospectus by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), customary conditions for transactions of this kind, and a change to Xpo Group's articles of association.
Source: Photo: EasyFairs
