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| Italian trade fair and government representatives at a press conference in Rome |
The newly formed Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) trade show company expanded its footprint in the Italian jewelry and gold industry by taking over the organization and management of the OroArezzo and Gold Italy trade fairs. The two shows are held at Arezzo Fiere e Congressi in the Tuscany region’s city of Arezzo. It is one of the two major gold jewelry manufacturing centers in Italy.
With this agreement IEG becomes the trade fair representative for the entire Italian gold and jewelry industry, valued at more than $6 billion, according to an Italian government official.
The agreement was announced Thursday at a press conference in Rome attended by trade fair representatives and national and regional government officials, including Ivan Scalfarotto, undersecretary for the Ministry of Economic Development; Stefano Ciuoffo, Tuscany Region councilor for production, credit, tourism and commerce; Lorenzo Cagnoni, IEG president; Matteo Marzotto, executive IEG VP; Corrado Facco, IEG managing director; and Andrea Boldi, president of Arezzo Fiere e Congressi.
“The strategic agreement with Arezzo Fiere e Congressi spotlights Italian Exhibition Group's competence as a central, cutting edge trade show player for the jewelry sector on a global scale,” Facco said. “The Italian segment is Europe’s most important, and certainly most qualified, production district in terms of design and technological innovation.”
IEG was formed in October 2016 with the merger of two Italian trade fair companies, Fiera di Vicenza and Rimini Fiera. IEG said at the time the alliance makes the new entity a “top player in Italy” in terms of directly organized shows with 61 fairs in its portfolio (90 percent own by the trade fair organizations) and 160 other events and congresses. The company also said it was the first example of a merger between trade show enterprises in Italy.
Among Fiera di Vicenza trade shows are VicenzaOro, held three times per year (which includes a trade show in Dubai). It is centered in Vicenza in the Veneto region, the other of the two major gold jewelry manufacturing centers in Italy.
“Italian Exhibition Group will be managing an overall four events in Italy, one in Dubai, the official presence in the United States and a series of other strategic operations in Asia,” Facco said. “Therefore, IEG’s role as a content provider takes on even greater value, thus consolidating its international leadership in the marketing, communication and production of events linked to business for high range luxury goods.”
The new company’s aggressive stance toward locking up the trade fair sector in Italy for the jewelry industry seems to coincide with its plan to issue an Initial Public Offering as early as this year. The company made this announcement during the recently concluded VicenzaOro January trade fair.
In addition, officials at the press conference in Rome said it coincides with Italian government initiatives to consolidate the industry in order to better promote internationally the “Made in Italy” quality production merchandise mark (indicating that a product is all planned, manufactured and packed in Italy) throughout the jewelry industry’s supply and production chain.
“This agreement is a decisive step for the development of a segment that is worth over $6 billion in exports. Know-how and organizational abilities are thus being united in order to compete in an increasingly more complex market, where company dimensions and project aims and ambitions make the difference,” Scalfarotto said. “We allocated almost $9 million euros to the gold and jewelry industry last year, providing support to our companies' participation at foreign trade shows and strengthening the biggest events in Italy. For 2017, we will be firmly continuing our efforts. After the plan aimed at the U.S. market, which began in 2016, we will be placing particular focus on Asia and the Middle East.”
IEG noted that despite the consolidation it will continue to promote the trade shows as regional fairs within their territories, “albeit with a considerable view to systematization.”
“The aim is to strengthen and boost the industry by increasing business opportunities for exhibitors, stimulating the domestic market and favoring the presence of international buyers in order to help companies gain access to strategic jewelry markets,” IEG said in a statement.
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