Dubai– 5 May 2023: APCO Worldwide has acquired NGC International Advisory—multinational agency based in Dubai, specialising in public policy, government affairs and regulatory affairs in the MENA region—and Strategic Advice—Italy-based public affairs firm—APCO CEO Brad Staples announced today.

“I sincerely welcome our NGC and Strategic Advice colleagues to APCO and look forward to learning from their regional and global expertise and insight, on which many clients across industries, sectors and regions have relied,” Staples said.

NGC is led by a dynamic team with collective experience of nearly a century, serving clients across the region with offices in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan. NCG Managing Director Mohamed Bahaa will serve as APCO’s managing director of public affairs in the MENA region.

 

Mamoon Sbeih, president of APCO’s MENA region, said, “this acquisition further reinforces APCO’s public affairs offering in the MENA region—providing clients with enhanced public policy advisory and support, government relations and communications management, regulatory affairs support and management, policy and regulation monitoring, industry groups and associations management and executive training programs.” 

“APCO and NGC share deeply rooted values—prioritizing dedication, expertise, passion, equality and diversity—and this common bond makes us stronger collectively,” Bahaa said. “The practice of public affairs is a fairly nascent one in the dynamic MENA region, but one that is critically important to multinational companies and other clients looking to align their objectives with key government priorities, secure their permission to operate and achieve their goals.”

Strategic Advice is an established partner for companies seeking to understand and manage political scenarios and advance their objectives through multistakeholder campaigns. As an independent, non-partisan consultancy, it provides impartial analysis to inform clients and help them reach key decision-makers—at national and local levels—through customized offers tailored to their needs.

“I am delighted to return to APCO, where I started my career more than 20 years ago,” Strategic Advice’s founder Gabriele Cirieco said. “Now, more than ever, in a quickly changing world, APCO’s presence in Brussels and in other international hubs is key for Italian companies. Joining forces with APCO allows us to provide clients with presence and support where critical decisions are now made.” 

Paolo Compostella, president of APCO’s Europe region, said, “I am delighted to welcome Gabriele and all other Strategic Advice colleagues to APCO. It is a welcome return and an injection of additional insights and expertise to a team that has been experiencing extraordinary growth for over a decade. Thanks to our new colleagues we are further deepening APCO’s roots in the Italian ecosystem and strengthening our networks in key businesses, industries and across national and regional institutions. The acquisition was a strategic investment in our core service of planning and executing multistakeholder campaigns that are truly integrated at European and global levels.”  

For nearly 40 years, APCO has served as a trusted advisor and partner for organizations from around the world seeking to understand, anticipate and respond to the most complex policy issues. APCO’s deep and long-standing relationships with decision-makers and advocacy groups across regions help deliver policy results and drive impact. APCO provides clients with:

Insight: policy and political intelligence, legislative and regulatory tracking, stakeholder mapping, landscape analysis and issues monitoring;

Strategic Counsel: advocacy and lobbying strategy, relationship building and management, message creation and thought leadership development; and

Engagement/Strategic Positioning: grassroots and grasstops advocacy and top-tier media relationships.

The addition of NCG and Strategic Advice continues the recent expansion of APCO’s advisory capabilities. In March, APCO made a strategic push into financial communications with the acquisition of Camarco—a London-based financial communications firm, elevating APCO’s C-suite advisory capabilities and spearheading an ambitious move to extend its counsel to stakeholders in the capital markets arena—and added deep change, transformation and employee engagement expertise with the acquisition of Gagen MacDonald—a Chicago-based human-focused transformation and consulting firm, joining two independent and pioneering woman-owned companies together to bring deeper stakeholder insights and expertise to help organizations achieve their vision for positive change and transformation