Toluna completes Greenfield Online acquisition

Frederic-Charles Petit (pictured), Toluna’s founder and chief executive, said: “This is a transformational deal for Toluna. The combined group will have a strong market position and growth prospects in the years ahead. The board expects several million dollars of synergies and, after adjusting for integration costs, materially enhanced earnings per share in the year ending 31 December 2010.”

He added: “Our initial discussions have encouraged us that the combined group will deliver innovation in technology which will benefit both our customers and panel members. In addition, we are encouraged that the combined group will deliver better and more stable online samples and deliver increased shareholder value.”

Microsoft bought Greenfield Online and its subsidiary Ciao for $486m last October. It kept Ciao’s comparison shopping business and hoped to sell the research operations to private equity house ZM Capital, but that deal collapsed. It struck a sale agreement with Toluna in late June.