Mumbai, Sep 18 (IANS): Talent management company Exceed Entertainment and business development agency The Wild East Group have merged into one international entity.

The merger brings together Exceed Entertainment's expertise in celebrity management and brand monetisation, complementing this with The Wild East Group's ability to analyse a brand's asset value at a balance sheet level to produce a potent partnership that builds long-term brand equity for their clients.

However, The Wild East Group will continue to operate independently within the Exceed Entertainment group of companies.

Exceed Entertainment deals in celebrity management, brand endorsements, television, and production managing talent, with clients such as Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu and Shilpa Shetty; while The Wild East Group has worked on IP monetisation, brand development, brand licensing, and business development for clients like Hrithik Roshan, Paul Frank, Playboy, and the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The impetus behind the merger was born out of a desire to identify and fill a market gap between vision and implementation within the celebrity brand extension arena.

"This is a powerful merger as the skillsets of the two companies are clearly very complementary, and will redefine the talent management and brand space by offering new bundles of services with a variety of different lens," Afsar Zaidi, founder and managing director, Exceed Entertainment, said in a statement.

Sid Shah, founder of The Wild East Group, said that the merger was necessary to be able to offer the kind of value-add services that brands now require.