ITEC

Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity firm focused on media, communications, education and information investments. Providence Equity Partners have a history of profiteering from war, including owning the company U.S.Investigation Services, which trained the violent and secretive 'Emergency Response Unit', an Iraqi paramilitary security organisation. However, Providence are our particular focus this month because the company has just bought an events company called Clarion Events.

From May 12th to 14th, Brussels Expo hosted the ITEC exhibition (International Training and Education Conference) the annual top event for companies in the military training and simulation business. On the first day of the event, Vredesactie activists went in undercover and revealed controversial links. On May 13th, a delegation of politicians visited ITEC to make clear that an event like this is not welcome.


Booming business

On the 29th of May Clarion Events announced the acquisition of Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi), Latin American Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (LAAD) and ITEC.

DSEi - The largest arms fair in the world takes place in London every two years. The previous owners of DSEi and the other two exhibitions, Reed Elsevier,which is a major publisher of scientific publications, had to sell DSEi after a high profile campaign against it.