Event Planners Australia has announced its merger with MCI, the world’s largest PCO (professional conference organiser), corporate and special event managers, DMC (destination management company) and AMC (Association management company).

“We have consistently occupied the premier Australian market position and provided the leading meeting and event management services for the past 31 years but given the size of the Australian market it can be difficult to achieve the economies of scale that MCI can offer,” said Event Planners Australia’s chairman, Ray Shaw.

“We look forward to offering our client’s access to a much broader array of global resources and complementary services; our staff with lifetime global career opportunities; and the Australian business events industry access to a pipeline of MCI managed international meetings and events with their eye on Australia” he said.

MCI’s president Asia Pacific, Robin Lokerman commented, “Ray and his team have played an important thought-leadership role in the business events industry in Australia for many years. They have won many industry awards including the 2009 Meetings & Events Australia national award for Excellence as Australia’s best large Meetings Management Company and serve a wide range of long term clients. We see great growth potential for MCI in Australia and also believe the Event Planners’ team can play a key role in our PCO business in Asia Pacific region.”

Event Planners remains an Australian company under the same executive management team who have also become significant shareholders in MCI and join the company’s management board and team of directors.