Gulf Capital (“GC”), one of the largest and most active private equity firms investing from the GCC to Southeast Asia, announced today that its portfolio company, the CWB Group (“CWB”), has merged with the PETOŠEVIĆ Group (“PETOŠEVIĆ”) to form an unrivalled super-regional firm servicing and managing the intellectual property (“IP”) portfolios of global clients across the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. From its 24 offices, the combined full-service firm will be in the unique position of having the capacity to provide its clients with the full suite of IP services across the 52 countries it focuses on.

Founded in the 1960s, PETOŠEVIĆ is a leading intellectual property services provider headquartered in Luxembourg, providing services primarily across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. PETOŠEVIĆ’s management team has a wealth of IP-focused experience and is one of the most established IP service providers in the region. This combination was predominantly driven by the close match in culture and values between CWB and PETOŠEVIĆ along with the combined vision of the founding management teams to create a truly unique IP firm, unrivalled in its geographical coverage, depth, and quality of service.

This latest transaction, initiated and led by Gulf Capital, is another example of Gulf Capital’s deep sector expertise, strong focus on operational improvements, and long track record of building global leaders through a mix of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Since its acquisition of a majority stake in CWB in 2020, Gulf Capital has worked closely with the management team to enhance its customer-centric ethos to better serve clients through technology, senior human capital, and best practices. CWB’s merger with PETOŠEVIĆ aims to provide clients with a unique and unparalleled value proposition underpinned by trust, local expertise, and quality of service across an unprecedented wide network of 52 countries.

Slobodan Petošević, founder of PETOŠEVIĆ Group, said: “This marks a major milestone for us at PETOŠEVIĆ after more than 60 years in IP, and last 30 developing a focused network of IP firms. As a unique, multi-regional specialised IP firm, we are confident to offer our clients an enhanced and seamless service experience for all their intellectual property needs across the 52 countries we cover. The partnership with CWB and Gulf Capital was born out of a common vision for the future, and we are excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for our innovative creation and our respective clients.”

Halim Shehadeh, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of the CWB Group, said: “We are thrilled with the successful completion of the PETOŠEVIĆ merger and are eager to start this journey as a combined firm. This merger will deliver the resources we require to invest in new technologies, grow our operations and transform the way we deliver our services. It will enable us to build an unrivalled IP firm, with local presence and expertise in complex regions that operates as a single unit to deliver a consistent level of quality service despite all the challenges posed by the jurisdictions we operate in. Our clients are going to benefit from having one relationship and one point of contact for all their IP needs across all the 52 countries that we cover”.

Mohammad Madani, Managing Director, Gulf Capital, concluded: “We are very proud to partner with two pillars of the IP industry in Halim and Slobodan as we embark on this journey of transforming IP services across our growth markets. This strategic merger of two industry leaders is a continuation of our long-established strategy of ‘buy-and-build’ and industry consolidation to develop global champions out of the GCC region. We look forward to the smooth integration of the two firms and to generating substantial synergies and economies of scale in the future. Finally, we are particularly proud to establish this new super-regional IP firm out of the vibrant Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), which is quickly becoming the jurisdiction of choice for fast growing global companies operating across Emerging Markets.”

About Gulf Capital

Gulf Capital is a leading, thematic driven private equity firm with over sixteen years of investment experience from the GCC to South and Southeast Asia, one of the fastest growing investment corridors in the world today. Gulf Capital partners with dynamic entrepreneurs and exceptional management teams to provide them with growth capital, strategic advice, and operational expertise to build market leading global businesses. The Firm has a long and proven track record of investing in Growth Markets, having closed 38 investments since inception. It currently manages over $2.4 billion in assets across seven funds and investment vehicles. As a thematic investor, Gulf Capital focuses on resilient, forward-looking sectors such as Technology and Fintech, Healthcare, Business Services, Consumer and Sustainability. Its mission is to build value with world-class governance and ESG best practices, deep focus on operational improvements and sectoral expertise to generate sustainable and superior performance for its key stakeholders.

For more information, please visit www.gulfcapital.com or LinkedIn @gulfcapital

About the CWB Group

The CWB Group is a leading regional legal services consultancy that provides intellectual property services through its seven offices and member firms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It has over 92 employees across its offices and covers 22 countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. CWB counsels clients ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to multinational corporations and assists them in implementing solutions to obtain, manage, protect, enforce, and commercialise their intellectual property. CWB’s teams manage, protect and enforce IP rights for clients across a section of industries, including oil & gas, media, technology, transportation, entertainment, consumer electronics, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, confectionery, FMCG, property development, luxury fashion and cosmetics.

About the PETOŠEVIĆ Group

The PETOŠEVIĆ Group is a leading IP service provider developing since their inception in Eastern Europe in the 1960s. The Group has over 130 employees and consists of fourteen physical offices under the centralised ownership of a governing entity in Luxembourg. PETOŠEVIĆ operates with a focus on 30 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in many of them through offices of their own. PETOŠEVIĆ works with some of the world’s most recognised brand owners and offers IP rights portfolio management services and all related IP services aimed at acquisition and protection of existing IP rights, from simple prosecution, all the way to complex litigation.

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Randa Mazzawi

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