DUSSELDORF.- MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd., a company owned by MCH Group in Basel/Switzerland, is acquiring a 25.1 percent holding in art.fair International GmbH in Cologne/Germany, the organiser of the new art fair Art Dusseldorf. 74.9 percent of the company will remain in the hands of the current proprietors to date, Andreas Lohaus and Walter Gehlen. MCH Group has the option of acquiring a majority stake in the next years.

Marco Fazzone, Managing Director of Design & Regional Art Fairs within MCH Group, comments: "MCH Group's participation in Art Dusseldorf constitutes a further step in the implementation of our strategic initiative for the worldwide expansion of a new portfolio of regional art fairs in important art locations. We are convinced that Art Dusseldorf will be a success. Art Dusseldorf in the Areal Böhler will become the leading regional art fair in Germany, the Benelux region and the Rhineland – and thus also have an international radiance." Fazzone stresses that ART DÜSSELDORF will remain an autonomous brand. "It will, however, benefit from the MCH Group's experience and network, as well as from synergies with the other regional art fairs, which in the near future are going to form a strong global network."

Responsibility for Art Dusseldorf will remain in the hands of the existing team at art.fair International GmbH under the leadership of Andreas Lohaus and Walter Gehlen. Art Dusseldorf will take place for the first time from 16 to 19 November 2017 and will be accompanied by its "sister fair" of BLOOOM. Lohaus is pleased that "making a reality out of Art Dusseldorf and having the participation of the MCH Group are magnificent developments for North Rhine-Westphalia, as an art location. That the choice should fall on the Rhineland as a key location for an art fair within the MCH Group’s global strategy constitutes both recognition and an incentive." Walter Gehlen, his partner in the business, underscores that: "our activities in Düsseldorf are attracting great interest from galleries all over the world, who wish to make successful use of this fair for themselves. We are looking forward to the first edition of ART DÜSSELDORF."

MCH Group's participation in ART DÜSSELDORF is its second holding in a regional art fair, after its investment in the India Art Fair in autumn 2016. As announced in March 2016, MCH Group is setting out to expand its position in the art market by building up a portfolio of leading regional art fairs and strengthening the regional art markets. The regional art fairs will continue to be developed as autonomous brands by local teams and will develop a new radiance, which in the case of Art Dusseldorf will be international in nature, with a view to consolidating their leading positions in the regions concerned.