One of the largest independent meeting planning companies in the country, BCD Meetings & Events, is poised to get even bigger. The company has signed an agreement to acquire Grass Roots Meetings & Events, a well-established player with 220 employees and 12 offices around the world, including key locations in London and Fleet, U.K.; New York; Dusseldorf, Germany; Zurich, Switzerland; and Singapore.
“We have been strategically investing to grow our global presence and service offerings over the last three years,” said Scott Graf, BCD M&E global president. “This acquisition is about strengthening local event operations, offering new venue sourcing technology, and expanding our delegate management solution.”
Grass Roots Meetings & Events, a division of Grass Roots Group Holdings, Ltd., specializes in strategic meetings management and delegate management, and, according to a press release, manages close to $200 million in meeting spend. The company counts nine of the top 15 investment banks among the global clients it works with.
BCD M&E, headquartered in Chicago, has more than 1,100 employees and locations in more than 50 countries. It is an independently managed operating company of BCD Group, based in The Netherlands, and a sister organization of BCD Travel.