Expansion and modernization

At the start of the 1970s, the Cologne trade fair fell victim to its own success. The city was the sole owner of the fair and the fairgrounds were leased by the city to the fair company. However, the Cologne city administration did not have the means to finance the urgently required further expansion and modernization. In 1972 the company was thus converted from an operating company into a property-holding one, with the Land of North-Rhine Westphalia becoming an additional shareholder in the Cologne Fair. Since that time all building and modernization measures have been self-financed. From 1973 to the end of the century, the Cologne Fair has invested more than 1.7 billion 0.9 billion € in its own grounds. This, more than anything else, enabled its rise to being one of the leading fair companies in the world. Gradually the Cologne fairgrounds were expanded and modernized. In 1974 a surface area of 159,000 square meters was available. The construction of the new East halls with a further 44,000 square meters and with its own "East Conference Center" was completed in 1977.