Secaucus, NJ – (May 8, 2017) – Northstar Travel Group announced it has acquired the hotel investment event portfolio from Burba Hotel Network (“BHN”), the American Hotel & Lodging Association (“AHLA”), and their other partners.  BHN produces 10 hospitality investment events and conferences around the world, including in Los Angeles, Miami, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Mumbai.

Included in the acquisition is the prestigious Americas Lodging Investment Summit, or ALIS, the largest and most important hotel investment conference in the world.  Each January in Los Angeles, ALIS attracts the top hotel industry CEOs and leaders including investors, owners, developers, lenders, hotel management companies, and the professional advisory community.  ALIS is put on in partnership with AHLA, the leading national hotel industry association.  Northstar and AHLA have entered into a long-term partnership agreement to co-produce the ALIS Group of Events in the US.

Jim Burba, founder and president, and Bob Hayes, VP of Burba Hotel Network, and their entire team will continue to run the BHN events working with Northstar Travel Group. Northstar, the leading information, event, marketing solutions and technology provider to the global travel and meetings industry will be able to leverage its databases, relationships, media properties and domain expertise to help grow the BHN event portfolio.

“We are thrilled to add the Burba hospitality events to our growing portfolio of global events serving the travel and hospitality industries,” said Tom Kemp, chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel Group. “We have known Jim Burba and Bob Hayes for many years and we believe that the combination of BHN and Northstar is a great strategic and cultural fit with our company. BHN has a substantial event portfolio and this will be the largest acquisition in Northstar’s history. With the addition of BHN, events now become the largest segment of Northstar’s multi-platform solutions serving the global travel industry.”

Jim Burba added, “Finding the right strategic and cultural partner that offered new capabilities over a range of areas – event management, digital media and database marketing, to name a few – was very important as we continue to scale our business and offer greater educational and marketing offerings to the global hotel investment community.  I have known the leadership team of Northstar for many years including Tom Kemp, Alicia Evanko and Bob Sullivan and we are very excited to be working with Northstar.”

“We have been fortunate to work with Jim Burba and BHN to build one of the most prestigious conferences for our industry and I couldn’t be more excited for this new strategic partnership with Northstar that we believe will bring great value and synergies to both parties,” said Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of AHLA. “I am confident that Northstar will build on the momentum we’ve created and take the ALIS group of events to the next level.” 

In addition to the ALIS Group of Events, BHN produces HICAP, the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific in Hong Kong; HICAP Update in Singapore; and AOCAP, the Alternative Ownership Conference – Asia Pacific in Singapore. HICAP is the largest hotel investment conference in Asia and one of the longest continuously running hotel investment conferences in the world. Robert Hecker, Managing Director of Horwath HTL, based in Singapore, and, along with Stiles Capital Events a co-host of HICAP said, “We are very pleased to be co-hosting with Northstar Travel Group based on their focus on the global travel industry and their established footprint in Asia with operations in Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai.”

BHN also produces CHRIS, the Caribbean Hotel and Resort Investment Summit in Miami; HOLA, the Hotel Opportunities Latin America conference in Miami; Hot.E, the Hotel Investment Conference Europe in London; and HIFI, Hotel Investment Forum India, in Mumbai.

Houlihan Lokey represented BHN and its partners in the transaction. Paul Hastings LLP provided legal advice to BHN, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC provided legal advice to AHLA. Macquarie Capital provided financing for Northstar, Jones Day served as legal advisor to Northstar.

About Burba Hotel Network

BHN brings together three decades of experience producing the world’s preeminent gatherings of the hotel and tourism investment community. The company has produced the most hotel investment events globally, with over 140 conferences completed in 22 countries and attended by nearly 100,000 international delegates. BHN brings the hotel industry together to network, conduct business, and learn about the latest trends. BHN and its events connect hotel industry professionals with all the important players who are active in the investment equation — developers, investors, lenders, consultants, and others who contribute to the hotel industry. BHN’s network includes over 25,000 hotel industry leaders in over 140 countries.

About Northstar Travel Group  

Northstar is the owner of well-known brands including Travel Weekly, TravelAge West, Business Travel News, Successful Meetings, Meetings & Conventions, Travel Weekly China, Incentive, M&C China, and Web in Travel. The company produces more than 60 face-to-face events in 13 countries in retail travel, hospitality, corporate travel, travel technology, and the meetings industry. In addition, Northstar owns Phocuswright, the leading research, business intelligence, and event producer serving the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, online travel distribution. Northstar is also the majority shareholder in Inntopia, the leading SaaS e-commerce software, CRM database marketing and predictive analytics business serving the mountain destination, activities, and specialty destination travel markets.

Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company also has offices in New York, NY; Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Winston-Salem, NC; Stowe, VT; Glen Ellyn, IL, and global offices in Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Northstar Travel Group is owned by funds managed by EagleTree Capital.   

About EagleTree Capital  

EagleTree Capital (formerly Wasserstein Partners) is a mid-market private equity and investment company focused on the media and communications, consumer products and water and industrial sectors. The firm manages capital on behalf of institutional and individual investors and is currently investing EagleTree Partners IV. EagleTree Capital is located in New York. For more information, visit www.eagletree.com.