Opus Agency Looks to Asia Pacific for Growth With The CWK Acquisition

On Wednesday, Opus Agency announced its acquisition of The Company We Keep (The CWK), an event marketing and brand experience agency with offices in Sydney, Australia, and Singapore, as well as a hub in New Zealand. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but the acquisition was carried out by parent company, The Opus Group, which is owned by private equity firm Growth Catalyst Partners. 

Opus Agency said the acquisition is key to its growth strategy focused on entering new markets, in this case Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The company also said that it will benefit from The CWK’s content creation, animation, and media talent.

APAC is now leading the pack in terms of tourism recovery. Opus Group’s announcement follows UK-based trade show organizer Nineteen Group’s expansion into the region in April 2024.

Nigel Ruffell, founder of The CWK, will take on the role of executive vice president of Asia Pacific and report directly to Dena Lowery, president of Opus Agency. The CWK’s senior leadership will also join Opus Agency’s extended leadership team. There are no anticipated layoffs to the staff of more than 70 employees. 

Since coming under Growth Catalyst Partners’ ownership, The Opus Group has acquired nine companies, including Europe-focused experience agency Verve in December 2022 and U.S.-based MAS Event + Design (now simply known as MAS) in May 2018. The two agencies continue to operate under their own brands Verve and MAS.

Growth Catalyst Partners count realtime and virtual world production specialists Dimension Studio in its portfolio, along with two media companies that produce events as part of their offering, CyberRisk Alliance and Government Executive Media Group.