Nielsen Sells Tradeshow Arm to Finance Arbitron Deal

Nielsen is selling its 'non-core' tradeshow business Nielsen Expositions to Canadian private equity firm Onex in a cash deal worth $950m, in order to provide funds for its planned $1.3 billion acquisition of radio ratings giant Arbitron.

The Arbitron acquisition, which was first announced in December, is currently being reviewed by The Federal Trade Commission. In a conference call last month, Nielsen CEO David Calhoun predicted that the regulator will take somewhere between 60 days and four months to respond.

Nielsen CFO Brian West (pictured) said that selling off the tradeshow arm will enable the company to focus on its core 'Watch' media research and 'Buy' consumer purchase behavior divisions, while the resulting funds will be used to finance the Arbitron deal.

Operating from four US offices, Nielsen Expositions has approximately 240 employees, and for the year ended December 31st 2012 generated revenues of approximately $183m.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .