Business intelligence, academic publishing and events group Informa has agreed to acquire US-headquartered Penton Information Services from private equity owners MidOcean Partners and Wasserstein in a £1.2bn deal.

The Penton business encompasses exhibitions and business-to-business brands in a number of specialist sectors including agriculture and transportation. Its portfolio includes more than 100 products across digital channels and printed magazines, and it lays claim to an audience of circa 20m B2B professionals.

The business is understood to have a substantial print spend.

The deal comprises £1.1bn in cash plus £76m of equity.

Informa, which owns print expo Ipex, has launched a £715m rights issue to fund the purchase.

Penton is headquartered in New York and Martell, who runs Informa’s Business Intelligence division, is set to relocate there in early 2017 to work alongside Penton chief executive David Kieselstein. Martell will then transition into the CEO role.

Penton’s events will become part of Informa’s Global Exhibitions division.

The acquisition is expected to complete in November. Penton's turnover was not disclosed, but Informa, which had sales of £1.2bn last year, said that the deal would mean almost half of its revenues would come from the US in future. 

Martell left St Ives in 2014 after more than 30 years at the print group.