Dubai: JiWin Public Relations, a company formerly owned by Tecom Investments, a member of Dubai Holding, was acquired yesterday by Apco Worldwide, an independent global communication consultancy.
Apco Worldwide, a 26-year-old employee owned company, is now active in 20 countries. Information on for how much JiWin was sold for was not revealed.
The acquisition comes as a part of Apco Worldwide's growth plan, said Margery Kraus, the company's founder and chief executive officer, who was in Dubai yesterday for the legal proceedings.
"This is the first major step in this direction, but [initially] we weren't looking at doing an acquisition," Kraus told Gulf News.
"We had the global platform and JiWin had the local knowledge and the ability to work with companies in the region that wanted to go out, so it just made perfect sense to create more value by putting the two entities together."
Founded in 2006, JiWin currently has a team of about 35 professionals. The company has 28 clients including Dubai Holding, Johnson & Johnson, Noor Islamic Bank, Merck, the Landmark Group, Nasdaq Dubai and Young Arab Leaders.
While JiWin will become part of Apco's global team, JiWin's current staff, headed by managing director Mamoon Sbeih, will manage on-the-ground resources in the UAE and build regional capabilities for Apco's premium service offerings.
Kraus said that almost 50 per cent of the company's work happens in five or more markets outside the US. "I wouldn't be surprised if [Dubai] became 5 or 10 per cent of our business very quickly," Kraus said, speaking of the new business move to Dubai.
Kraus did not mention where the company would expand next. However, at the local level, Abu Dhabi is on the top of the list.
