Sterling Events is a Liverpool-based company, the principal shareholder of which is Lauren Sterling, which stages two major national exhibitions and conferences; Health and Wellbeing at Work and Primary Care and Public Health. These events will next be held, respectively, at the NEC in Birmingham in March and May of next year. The six-strong staff will remain in Liverpool.

Health and Wellbeing at Work is the UK’s largest event dedicated to improving the health, wellbeing, safety, behaviour and culture of today’s workforce. It has been leading the way in championing employee wellbeing for the last 17 years. Similarly, Primary Care and Public Health is the country’s major event for GPs, trainee GPs, managers, podiatrists, physiotherapists, nurses, midwives and dieticians working in primary and community care. It has an even longer pedigree, having been launched by Lauren more than 30 years ago. Both exhibitions have seen an incredibly strong bounce back following the pandemic pause, with record numbers of exhibitors and visitors at the last editions.  

The purchase of Sterling Events completes a trio of events which Mark Allen Group has acquired this year. The first of these was Regen, an exhibition, conference and networking event for the regeneration industry which was successfully held for the first time by Mark Allen earlier this month in Liverpool. 

This was followed by the acquisition of Heelec Limited, co-owned by Lord Rupert Redesdale and Jason Franks. EMEX, its net zero and energy management expo, was held under the Mark Allen’s colours to record attendees at London’s ExCel centre earlier this week. Like EMEX, the two Sterling shows will come under the umbrella of MA Exhibitions, headed by Tim Willoughby, one of the seven operating companies in the group.

Executive chairman Mark Allen said: “Acquiring these two well-established exhibitions is a real triumph. With our predominant interest in healthcare and human resources, through our combination of primary care and HR magazines, this touches our sweet spot.”

CEO Ben Allen said: “It is a real coup acquiring these two excellent exhibitions and they substantially strengthen our offering in healthcare and HR. I am delighted that Lauren has agreed to stay on as a consultant until the end of the 2023 editions of the shows. She has built these events over many years and has an incredible knowledge of the markets, which combined with our market-leading brands, make a powerful combination. I greatly look forward to working with her and her team and taking these events to new heights.”

Lauren Sterling added: "I am really excited to be part of the Mark Allen Group.  As market leaders in delivering healthcare and HR focused events, there are great opportunities to develop them even further under the MAG banner.  We are already working on some new ideas that will strengthen our 2023 events.  There is great synergy between the two companies, and I feel extremely confident that our events will continue to grow and be at the forefront of their respective industries by working together."