Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Ipsos announces that it successfully completed yesterday the acquisition of the Synovate business for an enterprise value of £525 million*. Following this transaction, Ipsos becomes the third largest global market research company.

The acquisition was announced on 27 July 2011 and was conditional upon various approvals, which have been obtained since then: the transaction was approved by Aegis’ ordinary shareholders on 16 August 2011 and obtained the mandatory anti-trust clearances thereafter.

The completion of the transaction occurs following the successful capital increase with preferential subscription rights of €200 million launched by Ipsos on 8 September 2011, to fund part of the acquisition price, and completed on 30 September 2011. Didier Truchot, Ipsos Co-President, says: “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of Synovate which is transformational for our company. With Synovate, Ipsos strengthens its leadership position in its chosen areas of specialization and enhances its intellectual and commercial offer to bring enriched and improved solutions to our clients.

We are working quickly and jointly with the Synovate team and are delighted to welcome them within Ipsos. We are confident in our ability to achieve the objectives of the combination identified at the announcement of the transaction.”

Synovate will be included in Ipsos’ consolidated accounts from 1st October 2011.

*excluding Aztec - €595.8 million on the basis of an exchange rate of €1 = £0.88120 as of 25 August 2011