Hayfin has fully underwritten the debt financing to support the acquisition of Hyve Group (“Hyve”), a leading next-generation B2B events business, by Hellman & Friedman (“H&F”). H&F is acquiring Hyve from Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”) and Searchlight Capital Partners (“Searchlight”), marking the next phase of Hyve’s growth and evolution.

The senior-secured facility extends an existing lending relationship with Hyve. Hayfin first invested in the business in 2021 and then again in 2023 when supporting its take-private by Providence and Searchlight. Since then, Hyve has delivered three consecutive years of double-digit organic revenue growth, expanded EBITDA beyond $100m and built out its platform through seven strategic acquisitions and five key event launches, while investing significantly in technology and tech-enabled products and services. In partnership with H&F, Hyve will focus on accelerating international launches, expanding adjacent products and services and continuing to scale into growing end markets via its proven acquisition strategy.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in London, Hyve operates a global portfolio of premium, must-attend B2B events connecting some of the world’s leading companies, investors, innovators and decision-makers. It operates across high growth sectors such as healthcare, ecommerce, edtech, supply chain and martech, with flagship events including HLTH, Shoptalk, Bett, Mining Indaba and Fintech Meetup. Under its current leadership team, Hyve has positioned itself as a partner platform of choice for ecosystem events in high growth markets, with a customer offering spanning content, intelligence, matchmaking and membership.

Stuart Mitchell, Director at Hayfin said: “Having first invested in Hyve in 2021, including in its most recent ownership by Providence and Searchlight, Hayfin has developed a deep understanding of the business and its exceptional growth record. During this period, Hyve has transformed into a more global, diversified and digitally sophisticated platform, with strong momentum behind it. We look forward to working with Mark and his talented team as they enter this exciting next phase of the company’s development in partnership with H&F.”

Rehan Jiwani, Managing Director at Hayfin said: “We have been lenders in the B2B events space for more than 15 years and we have on-going strong conviction in the attractiveness of the sector. Hyve is an example of an exceptionally strong platform within B2B events, and we are excited to support the company with this latest, large-scale, financing. From a Hayfin perspective, it highlights our ability to provide sizeable financing solutions that support sponsors and management teams in executing their growth ambitions.”

Completion of the transaction is expected by the end of the calendar year.