MEMBER NEWS: HGF secures private equity investment to propel its vision of being Europe’s IP Firm of Choice; to attract top talent and to deliver excellence to clients.

October 10, 2024
MEMBER NEWS: HGF secures private equity investment to propel its vision of being Europe’s IP Firm of Choice; to  attract top talent and to deliver excellence to clients.

Over the past 30 years, HGF has expanded its presence across Europe, consistently demonstrating an entrepreneurial approach and becoming one of Europe’s leading IP firms. It has now secured strategic investment from private equity firm CBPE, positioning the firm to accelerate its growth strategy and deliver enhanced value to both its clients and team.

HGF remains dedicated to building a responsible business, grounded in its core values: People, Teamwork, Progressiveness, and Excellence.

The investment will enable HGF to focus on enhancing its high-quality advisory services, with an emphasis on four key strategic areas: people, processes, technology, and services. These efforts will boost the firm’s value to its global client base and significantly expand its commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.

Prior to this investment, HGF had already made bold moves in the industry, including a strategic partnership with Salesforce and the introduction of a new parental leave policy, offering 26 weeks of fully paid leave for parents. These initiatives underscore HGF’s fearless approach to change in the traditionally conservative IP sector. As part of this investment, a greater number of colleagues will now benefit from an equity interest in HGF.

HGF selected CBPE as its partner due to their deep understanding of the IP industry’s potential and their track record of successful investments in professional services firms, such as BKL, Centralis, and  Perspective Financial Group. The alignment of values between the two firms made CBPE the ideal partner to help HGF achieve its vision of becoming Europe’s IP Firm of Choice.

Martyn Fish, CEO of HGF, commented: “This investment marks a significant opportunity for HGF and everyone in the team. I am thrilled with our decision to partner with CBPE to take the next step in our journey. Their culture and values are closely aligned with ours, and we share a common vision for the future of HGF.”

Harry Hewlett, CBPE Director, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with the HGF team. IP services is a sector that we know well. We recognise in HGF a highly attractive business, with a strong team committed to delivering exceptional service to its clients. We look forward to supporting the business during the next phase of its growth journey “

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AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce

The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy

Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall

Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise