Gulf Capital unit CWB and Petosevic merge to manage IP portfolios in Mena, Europe and Asia

The 'super-regional' company will serve 52 countries

Halim Shehadeh, chief executive and founder of CWB Group, left, and Slobodan Petošević, founder of Petošević, sign merger documents. Photo: Gulf Capital

CWB Group, a unit of UAE-based alternative investment manager Gulf Capital, has merged with Europe's Petosevic Group to manage the intellectual property (IP) portfolios of its clients across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia.

The new “super-regional” firm, which is based in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), is part of Gulf Capital's growth strategy that counts mergers and acquisitions as a main pillar of operations and will allow it to provide and manage IP services in 52 countries, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This merger of two industry leaders is a continuation of our long-established strategy of ‘buy-and-build’ and consolidation,” said Mohammad Madani, managing director of Gulf Capital.

“We look forward to the smooth integration of the two firms and to generating substantial synergies and economies of scale in the future.”

Companies are increasingly tapping into M&A opportunities in high-growth sectors and markets to support their bottom lines.

Global M&A activity is projected to grow in the second half of 2023 as investors and executives look to balance short-term risk with their long-term business transformation strategies, according to global consultancy PwC.

While overall M&A deal volumes in 2022 were below the record-breaking 65,000 deals in 2021, they remained 9 per cent above pre-coronavirus levels, the London-based company said.

M&A activity during 2022 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea) was bigger than in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific, “highlighting a shift by investors to find opportunities and growth in other markets”, PwC data showed.

Deal volumes and values in Emea dropped by 12 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, between 2021 and 2022. But with around 20,000 deals last year, activity in the region remained 17 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, it said.

The global IP services market size was valued at more than $2.88 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to around $5.84 billion by 2028 at a compound annual rate of 12.5 per cent, according to research firm Market Growth Reports.

The CWB-Petosevic merger is expected to deliver resources the former needs to invest in new technologies, grow its operations and transform its service delivery, said Halim Shehadeh, chief executive and founder of CWB Group.

“It will enable us to build an unrivalled IP firm, with local presence and expertise in complex regions that operate as a single unit to deliver a consistent level of quality service despite all the challenges posed by the jurisdictions we operate in,” he said.

Gulf Capital has more than 16 years of investment experience in the GCC, South Asia and South-East Asia, and currently manages more than $2.4 billion in assets across seven funds and investment vehicles. It acquired a majority stake in CWB Group in 2020.

CWB Group provides IP services through its offices and member firms in Mena, covering 22 countries. Its portfolio spans from oil and gas to media and entertainment, and from technology to transport and pharmaceuticals to fast-moving consumer goods.

Petosevic, which has been involved in IP in the Western Balkans since the 1960s, has 14 offices under the centralised ownership of a governing entity in Luxembourg. Its operations focus on 30 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.