UF is reshaping its brand portfolio: experiential subsidiary Xi will be fully folded into the IUF name. Further acquisitions and business expansions are already in the works.
Corporate Restructuring: Xi Merges Into IUF
British integrator IUF is fully folding its Xi brand into the parent company. IUF founder and CEO Josh Bunce and Franco Boydell, IUF’s Head of Growth and formerly Xi’s chief, each announced the move in separate LinkedIn posts. The transition is set to happen over the coming months.
Xi originally emerged from the merger of Eventstag and We Are Interact and has since operated as a standalone experiential brand within the IUF group.
After five years together, it makes more sense to bring all business divisions under one roof rather than run several specialized brands, Josh Bunce wrote in his LinkedIn post. “Rather than having many businesses specializing in many things, we have one business that specializes in everything,” the IUF CEO said.
Clients will now get single-source access to experiential activations, retail technology, digital signage, stadium solutions, workplace technology, AV, IoT, and digital infrastructure.
Franco Boydell described the restructuring in as the result of a five-year structural and cultural strategy. Executives Charlie Richards and Andrew Hill had already moved into group-wide roles as Head of Development and Head of Creative, respectively. Xi is trading some of its former flexibility for more reliable processes as a result, Boydell said.
The brand merger follows shortly after IUF’s acquisition of British AV integrator Project Audio Visual, which built out its new Workplaces division. Speaking to AV Magazine around that acquisition, Bunce said IUF aims to grow revenue to £100 million and expand to 20 locations worldwide by 2030, with five more potential acquisitions in the pipeline.