DeutschReed Exhibitions – History
The Reed company was founded in 1894 when Albert E. Reed opened his newspaper printing press in Tovil Mill in Kent (UK). In 1903 the company became a public limited company. The name of the parent company was changed in 1970 to Reed International Ltd. and again in 1982 to Reed International plc.
The Elsevier company dates back to 1880 when Jacobus George Robbers set up a publishing house in Rotterdam which he named after "Elsevier", a publishing family from the 16th century. Elsevier entered the American market in 1937 in the form of a joint venture; this eventually saw the founding of the company Excerpta Media in 1946.
The group launched in the UK in 1962 under the name Elsevier Publishing Company, and the name was instantly adopted in the USA, too.
The amalgamation of Elsevier Publishing Company N.V., Noord Hollandsche Uitgeverschappij and Excerpta Media saw the creation of a global publishing group trading under the name of Associated Scientific Publishers from 1971. In 1979 the group was then renamed "Elsevier Scientific Publishers".
In 1993 Elsevier and Reed joined forces and have been trading ever since under the name Reed Elsevier Group p.l.c. The shareholders, each with an equal stake, are Reed Elsevier plc and Reed Elsevier N.V.
A major step in expanding the exhibition business was the acquisition of the European business of UN Miller Freeman in 2000 and its incorporation as Reed Exhibitions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reed Elsevier plc.
Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH
The history of Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH began more than 25 years ago on 29 September 1988. That was the day on which the "Blenheim" company was entered into the German commercial register. When Blenheim took over the PSI Trade Show and the PSI Institut from its founder Walter Jung, this represented the start of the current portfolio of trade fairs.
FIBO and EQUITANA were then purchased in 1991 and 1993 respectively, and soon afterwards we moved into the RWI building in Düsseldorf.
Everything changed in 1997 when United News & Media acquired Blenheim and merged to form Miller Freeman. ALUMINIUM was launched in Essen and the first ever MODERNER STAAT (at that time known as SCHLANKER STAAT) was staged in Düsseldorf.
The year 2000 saw Reed Exhibitions take over the European trade fairs of UN Miller Freeman, at which point Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH became part of the largest trade fair organising company in the world.