Research Firms GfK, TNS to Merge

LONDON/NUREMBERG, June 4:
U.K.-based Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) is to merge with Germany’s GfK to create
the world’s second-largest global research group.

The 50-50 joint venture
will be named GfK-TNS, with expertise in both mature markets as well as emerging
territories, tapping into GfK’s Central and Eastern European knowledge and
TNS’s coverage of the Asia Pacific. GfK-TNS will have operations in 111
countries, with a head office in London and the German head office in
Nuremberg. In 2007, the merged group would have had combined revenues of 2.7
billion euros. The merger is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of
this year.

—By Mansha Daswani