1960 It was in this year that a production plant of state company Merkur Praha was founded in Blovice. This company was responsible for the whole advertisement in Czechoslovakia of that time. Then, plant Merkur Blovice was offered exhibition and computer activities. However, the very first name of the plant was Reklama obchodu (Advertisement of Business).
In the following years, the plant started to realize exhibition expositions for the so called “Companies of foreign business” all over the world. The plant in Blovice reached about 140 employees and thus, it becomes one of the biggest production exhibition companies in the CSSR (the Czech and Slovak Socialistic Republic). The plant employed high-qualified employees in the field of carpenters and lock-smiths, who had historical tradition in this region. | 1960 Václav Valenta became the manager of Merkur Blovice. The company reached an unprecedented development and became the holder of significant state orders: Montreal World Exhibition (1976) – where the Czech exposition had an incredible success as well as at the following world exhibition in Vancouver (1986).
Václav Valenta managed to build, despite such a difficult period, a modern exhibition company with excellent staff and perfect organization of the production and realization. His work marked his name in the history of the Czech advertisement and he became one of doyens of the Czech exhibition. . | | 1991 After a complex privatization of the plant by beneficiary of restitution, six partners (Václav Valenta, Miroslav Sýkora, ing. Karel Vávra, ing. Josef Domorád, ing. František Kočí, PhDr. Jindřich Jirásek) found a new private advertisement company Merkur-print spol.s r.o. that followed the activities of the former plant Merkur Blovice, especially the subject of business and employees well-qualified in the field. During the Small Privatization, the company bought a former garage in Tržní Street to run the business of the company. Soon after that, the company spreads by buying an area and other lots and an administration and production facility from the town of Blovice.
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1992 - 1997 During this period, a substantial reconstruction, construction and machinery development were in run to change the company into a modern exhibition company. The number of employees decreased from the initial five to fifty. Already in 1993, the company followed the tradition of realizing world exhibitions by providing the complete supply of the Czech pavilion at Expo Taeyon in South Korea. In 1993, there was a misunderstanding concerning the trademark Merkur and the company changed its name to become Expo partners spol.s r.o.
1998 - 2004
The company portfolio became stable containing customers from significant economic persons of the Czech economy, especially in the West Bohemia region, and in the same time, it started important work even for European companies. In 2000, the company contributed to the exhibition in Hanover again by supplying a part of the exposition and even by work in the pavilion. | 
| | 2005
This year represented another milestone year for the company. Due to the sale of shares of some partners, the owners’ relationship in the company changed (ing. Bohumil Bochňák, ing. František Lahodný, Miroslav Sýkora), and the company’s activities were enlarged by creativity, design, production and catering. Also, the company was given a new name, EXPO, IGC group s.r.o., and it opened its office in Prague. In 2005, the company also participated in the realization of the exposition of the Czech pavilion in another world exhibition – this time in Aichi, Japan.
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