Wolters Kluwer announces $140m sale of Corsearch

Wolters Kluwer has agreed to sell its trademark solutions business Corsearch to Audax Private Equity for $140 million.

It follows an announcement in April that Wolters Kluwer was to open a review into strategic alternatives for Corsearch, which provides services including trademark clearance and watching.

Wolters Kluwer described the industry in which Corsearch operates as “evolving from providing traditional trademark clearance and protection services to delivering end-to-end digital solutions for brand management”.

It added that Wolters Kluwer has decided to focus investment on developing its “core regulatory compliance and risk management software”.

Tobias Hartmann, general manager of Corsearch, said he looks forward to working with Audex as “their vision aligns strongly with Corsearch’s existing business and growth strategy”.

The transaction, subject to “customary closing conditions”, is expected to be completed before the end of 2017.

“It remains to be seen if the new organisation increases its penetration into the market or not,” explained Joseph Letang, partner at Dehns.

“Corsearch have been raising their game in terms of publicity in the past five years and have really got their name even more well known amongst UK trademark attorneys.

“It will be interesting to see as a result of their sell-off if they increase their presence or not,” Letang added.

It follows further mergers and acquisitions activity in the IP service providers industry.

In August, WIPR reported that CPA Global had been bought for £2.4 billion ($3.1 billion) by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners.

The Los Angeles-based firm made the agreement after CPA Global’s owner Cinven announced plans to sell the company and hired Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as advisers in April.