Kent-based Unity Media and its sister company, Unity Exhibitions, have been acquired by Mark Allen Group (MAG) for an undisclosed sum.
Unity Media publishes a number of market leading brands in the built environment. They include: Roofing, Cladding & Insulation (RCI), Glass & Glazing, Heating & Plumbing Monthly, Building Products and Your Build.
At the same time, Unity Exhibitions Ltd organises the successful annual RCI Show, to be next held in November at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
This is the second acquisition MAG has made this year and follows the purchase two months ago of the largest special educational needs’ exhibition, TES SEN Show, from TES Global Ltd.
Unity Media, which was set up in 1995 and has been owned by Dennis and Jean Taylor, will be moving from its offices in Sevenoaks in July to MAG’s Dartford base.
MAG publishes a number of other business brands based in Dartford, including Eureka, New Electronics, Machinery, Works Management, Fast, Plant Engineer, Transport Engineer, Recycling & Waste World and Ground Handling International.
Mark Allen, Chairman of MAG, says: “Like me, Dennis is a member of the Stationers’ Company that represents publishing, print and packaging and we got to know one another over a dinner at Stationers’ Hall. When he told me that his business-to-business brands would be up for sale, I was immediately interested. Dennis is a decent and honourable man so agreement was easy. We trust one another so we did not even sign an NDA.
”What has impressed us greatly about Dennis’ business is the quality of his staff who are very passionate and engaged in their industries.”
Chairman of Unity Media, Dennis Taylor, says: “The prime elements in my sale to MAG were continuity for all the staff and consistency of approach between our two companies. MAG share a similar working culture to Unity’s. All Unity staff spent time with MAG and are looking forward to a seamless transition and future product developments.”
MAG’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Allen, adds: “Unity has some firstclass brands that are highly respected in their fields. A major interest of ours was the RCI Show, which is an excellent exhibition that has a very committed following of exhibitors and visitors.”
