MCH Group: A Tough Year

The year is 2016, and the MCH Group has garnered accolades from the art world for organising the world’s most successful art fairs: Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Basel Hong Kong. New art fairs are springing up everywhere and stock growth looks healthy enough. It’s a time when industry leaders are starting to make changes in their business models, even if they are still on top, so as to maintain their leadership in a changing world. But how do you change a company that has been working in the same way for over a century? The first step was to announce a new business initiative, Art Basel Cities, where the company would promote cultural events in selected cities, although no trade fair would take place. The second was the acquisition of shares in middle-market art fairs. These would be art fairs in developing countries or secondary fairs in countries with one big event already – but not through the Art Basel label, with the company just acting as shareholder and manager. It announced a new fair in Singapore, bought a majority stake in India Art Fair and a minority stake in Art Dusseldorf. Grand Basel, the antique and luxury car fair, would also expand to Miami. Of all the above, only Art Basel Cities had any real impact, taking place in October in Buenos Aires.…