Synovate

Synovate was a market research company with more than 100 offices in 62 countries. It was acquired by Ipsos in 2011 which combined to be the third largest in the world.

Company history

Synovate was one of the largest firms specializing in custom research (customized ad hoc research). They called themselves the most "curious" people in the world. Divisions included Synovate Healthcare, Synovate Business Consulting, Synovate Customer Experience, Synovate Censydiam and Motoresearch.

Synovate was owned by the Aegis Group. It was formed from the acquisition of a number of market research firms such as Blackstone, Market Facts, Censydiam, ISIS Research, Tribi, Symmetrics, Proactive Insights, and AMI.

Synovate was sold by the Aegis to Ipsos on October 11, 2011, for £525 million (€595 million) The combination of the 5th and 6th largest market research companies formed the 3rd largest market research company in the world with offices in 84 countries. Ipsos announced the agreement on July 27, 2011, and financed the acquisition through a new debt financing of €250 million. Synovate was fully integrated into Ipsos early in 2012.

Aftermaths

Following the sale of Synovate, Aegis became a scaled media and digital communications specialist. It returned £200 million to shareholders via a special dividend, sharply reducing net debt from £393 million (in the end of 1st half of 2011) to £128 million (in November 2011)

Ipsos's post-merger revenue has declined every year since 2011. In 2013, Ipsos sued Aegis for £100 million compensation over deception on the sale of Synovate. The case was dismissed by the commercial court in 2015

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Sales performance

* Calculated by using the combined Ipsos and Synovate pre-merger sales of US$2,397 million in 2010 (Ipsos's 2010 sales was US$1,512.8)GfK Annual reports 2010–2015 "Top 10 of the consumer research sector"

References

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Market research companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in London