French event group GL events has acquired 100 per cent of MCO Congrès, a Marseille-based agency that organises scientific and medical congresses. The deal was completed on 28 July and lands in the healthcare vertical of the group’s exhibitions division.
MCO Congrès is what the industry calls a PCO, a Professional Congress Organiser: an agency that handles the full organisation of association and scientific congresses, from programme logistics to delegate management. The company was founded in 1990 and has more than 1,500 congresses to its name. Today it employs 33 people and posts an annual turnover of around 14 million euros.
Part of the appeal sits on the Marseille coastline. MCO Congrès operates from Villa Gaby, a late nineteenth-century Italianate villa on the Corniche Kennedy that doubles as a meeting venue for medical and scientific gatherings. That stays unchanged: the villa remains the company’s headquarters and will keep hosting symposia, executive seminars and masterclasses for learned societies, professional associations and corporate clients.
For GL events, the acquisition is targeted. The Lyon-based group, listed on Euronext Paris, employs around 6,490 people across more than twenty countries and runs three divisions covering live events, exhibitions and a network of 83 venues; MCO Congrès adds a specialist boutique to that machine. Chairman Olivier Ginon says the move underlines the group’s ambition to grow its Health & Science activities, with professional congresses as the spearhead, and to strengthen Marseille’s international position as a congress destination.
The deal also fits a wider pattern in the congress market. Medical and scientific congresses are among the most stable segments in the industry, with loyal delegate bases and recurring editions, which makes specialist PCOs attractive targets for large event groups looking to build predictable revenue alongside their more cyclical exhibition business.
Source: Photo: Chairman Olivier Ginon, GL Events
