YouGov in €20m deal to buy Germany's Psychonomics

UK-- Online research agency YouGov has reached an agreement to acquire Germany's Psychonomics in a deal worth €20.75m.

Based in Cologne, the firm specialises in researching the insurance, financial services and healthcare sectors, and counts Allianz, Bayer, L'Oreal and Siemens among its clients.

YouGov chief executive Nadhim Zahawi said: “This is our first acquisition in Europe and gives us a strong foothold in the world's third largest research market, where Psychonomics has a top ten position.

“We see a major opportunity to migrate parts of Psychonomics' traditional data collection to our online technology, in addition to transferring its existing online research to the YouGov platform.”

Psychonomics reported pre-tax profit of €1.1m last year, up 48% on 2005. Revenue increased 32% to €13.6m.

YouGov will pay €5m in shares for the company, with the rest in cash. Additional consideration of up to €3m will be paid if financial targets set for the end of 2008 are met.

The new owner also plans to issue shares worth €500,000 for a Psychonomics employee incentivisation programme.

It will be YouGov's third acquisition, after buying Dubai's Siraj Marketing Research and Consultancy in July last year and a minority stake in US online and social research agency Polimetrix in December.

Author: Brian Tarran

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