Geldards advises global ITA Group on acquisition of Employee Owned C2 Events

Geldards’ Corporate team has successfully advised ITA Group, a global leader in corporate engagement solutions, on the strategic acquisition of C2 Events Limited, representing ITA’s third acquisition in the UK.

ITA Group delivers global engagement solutions for the world’s largest brands and the acquisition of C2 Events builds on their global expansion strategy, strengthening their presence in Europe.  Specialising in international events across the healthcare sector, C2 Events was founded over 20 years ago in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and had previously moved to an Employee Ownership model.

Considering the best path for the future of their business, C2 Events decided that the sale of their employee owned business to ITA Group was the right move for them, securing the interests of the employees and the future of the firm.

Geldards is already a leading advisor to employee owned businesses throughout the UK and those who are looking to  successfully transition to become employee owned. As a result, Geldards is now being engaged by both employee owned businesses an, as in the case of the ITA Group, potential acquirers who are looking to acquire employee owned businesses in the UK.

This type of transaction is on the increase and in November 2025 Andrew Evans and Alex Butler from the Geldards’ Corporate team spoke at the national Employee Ownership Association conference to delegates on the steps parties can take if a third party offer is made for an employee owned business.

Geldards is delighted to continue to work with the ITA Group on its UK growth strategy. The team has advised on all three of their UK acquisitions. For this transaction the advice was led by Alex Butler Partner in the Corporate team assisted by Solicitor Jamie East with Employment advice from Partner Joga Singh and tax advice from Partner Andrew Evans.

“C2events brings proven excellence in complex, compliant healthcare events and extends our ability to deliver for clients on the ground in key European markets. The cultural alignment—particularly our shared emphasis on employee ownership—means we can integrate quickly while preserving what makes C2 exceptional.” – Brent Vander Waal – CEO, ITA Group

 “Geldards’ guidance was clear, constructive and highly collaborative at every stage. Their grasp of the nuances around trustee approvals and employee owned structures kept momentum and gave us confidence throughout the transaction.” – Lou Ebinger- Chief Legal Officer, ITA Group

Commenting on the deal, Alex Butler, Partner Geldards said:

“We were delighted to act for Lou and the team at the ITA Group on another UK acquisition. It’s great to see continued investment into the UK market by a such an eminent global business and we were delighted to work with the ITA team to conclude the acquisition successfully.

This time we could also lean on our expertise in the employee ownership sector, particularly working on acquisitions of employee owned businesses. Our talk at the recent Employee Ownership Association conference on this topic, and the engagement from delegates, shows this is an area that will continue to grow.

In this case that expertise, ensured we could work with ITA Group to structure and execute a transaction that worked from the buyer’s perspective, but also protected the interests of the employees so that it could be approved by the trustees.”