Gulf Capital’s Portfolio Company, CWB Legal, Opens Its New Headquarters in Abu Dhabi Global Markets

Gulf Capital, a leading thematic alternative investment firm in the GCC and Asia, announced today that its portfolio company, Cedar White Bradley (CWB) Legal Limited, has opened its new headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The company was awarded a licence by Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) to operate from one of the most attractive, accessible, and innovative International Financial Centres. CWB Legal is one of the largest intellectual property legal consultancy firms in the region, with footprint in 22 countries. 

Dr Karim El Solh, co-Founder and CEO of Gulf Capital, said: “ADGM is a world-class financial ecosystem that offers our portfolio company, CWB, the perfect platform for growth across Asia and Emerging Markets. Based in ADGM, CWB is now ideally positioned to expand across neighbouring markets, especially the CIS, Asian and African markets. Gulf Capital has a long track record over the last 15 years of building global leaders out of the UAE and we believe CWB is ideally positioned to become, in its own right, the Emerging Markets leader in Intellectual Property services.  Its new home at ADGM is the ideal launchpad for this ambitious global expansion.”     

Juma Al Hameli, Chief Strategy Officer & Business Development Officer of Abu Dhabi Global Market: “We warmly welcome Gulf Capital’s portfolio company, Cedar White Bradley (CWB) Legal Limited to ADGM and hope it will continue to flourish and add to ADGM’s vibrancy. Through its patent enforcement and commercialisation services, we look forward for CWB to develop pathways for companies and entrepreneurs to achieve their aspirations."

ADGM is strategically positioned in the centre of the East and West corridor, linking economies and time zones and providing the ideal location for companies and financial institutions to conduct their global operations and access high-growth opportunities.

Mr. Halim Shehadeh, CEO of CWB Legal added: “We are excited to open our headquarters in Abu Dhabi as another step in achieving our international growth plans. This marks a major milestone for us as a firm and happens at an important junction in our growth phase. The UAE is not only the second largest and most advanced economy in the GCC, but also its capital Abu Dhabi is a city at the crossroads of East and West. We intend on leveraging ADGM’s world class infrastructure to enable and facilitate our expansion across emerging markets including the CIS, Asia, and Africa and to bring us so much closer to realising our goal of building the global emerging markets leader in IP. The sweeping legal reforms announced recently in the UAE, including those in the Intellectual Property laws, formed the largest legal reforms in the country’s 50-year history, and further strengthen our case for being domiciled in Abu Dhabi, ADGM, and the UAE.”

As the leading financial ecosystem, ADGM is home to more than 4150 registered entities, comprising some of the region’s and the world’s largest financial institutions - banks, investment firms, fund management companies, treasury centres, corporations, energy companies, technology firms, tech start-ups, corporate and professional services and other businesses.

CWB serves a long list of global multinational clients, consisting of many of the world’s largest and most famous brand owners, in their intellectual property matters across the MENA region.