AN IRISH-OWNED outdoor events business has won a €20 million construction contract to supply a major air show in the Middle East.
Arena Group, owned by businessmen Dermot Divilly and Greg Lawless, will construct the buildings and interiors that will house the inaugural Bahrain Airshow next January. The company’s deal runs from next year to 2014, and is worth a total of €20 million. Arena and its joint venture partner, Lea International, has already begun construction of the facilities.
Mr Divilly and Mr Lawless bought British-based Arena Group from its owner Evenser in 2007 for €44 million.
The Arena Group provides temporary and permanent seating, temporary structures, hospitality boxes and temporary support systems for the sports, exhibition and music markets. It supplies events such as Wimbledon, Aintree, Cheltenham and Royal Ascot racing festivals, PGA and Ryder Cup golf, the British Grand Prix as well as concerts and exhibitions.
The group includes a number of British businesses, such as Spaceworks Furniture Hire and Well Dressed Tables, which the Divilly-Lawless partnership owned ahead of the Arena deal in 2007.
Mr Lawless said that following the purchase, the pair decided to expand the business beyond Britain, and targeted the Middle East. It won contracts for the 2009 Abu Dhabi golf championship, and for Ramadan facilities for the Ritz Carlton, Burj Al Arab and the Habtoor Grand hotels this year.
Mr Divilly said at the weekend that they expect group turnover for 2009 to reach €67 million. “The recent geographic expansion of the group is expected to generate many similar opportunities in the Gulf region,” he predicted.
The first Bahrain Airshow takes place at Sakhir Airbase in the gulf kingdom from January 21st to 23rd. Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) of the Kingdom of Bahrain and Farnborough International Ltd (FIL) are organising the event. It will feature many leading multi-nationals in the sector, including Boeing, Airbus, Bell Helicopters manufacturer Techtron Group, and a range of suppliers. Arena will provide enclosures and exhibition spaces to the show.
Mr Divilly and Mr Lawless are well known in Irish business and have done a series of deals over the last 17 years. Many transactions were handled through Gaitsford Investments, which Mr Lawless heads. In Ireland, the partnership controls Hireall Ltd, Cater Hire Ltd and Irish Merchants Ltd, the non-food supplier to the catering and hospitality industries which was purchased in 2005 for €20 million. In 1993, they led a management buyout of another catering-related business, the Allegro Group. Mr Divilly was managing director and Mr Lawless was financial controller. Mr Divilly bought Roma Foods from Allegro in 1999 and sold it to IAWS – now Aryzta – in 2002.
