Integral bought the majority stake in Sinus from co-founder Horst Nowak. The other owners – Dorothea Nowak, Bodo Flaig and Norbert Schäuble – retain their minority stakes in the firm. Both Horst and Dorothea Nowak are withdrawing from active roles in the Heidelberg-based agency, but Dorothea will continue to support the firm as an adviser.

Manfred Tautscher (pictured), who co-founded Integral 20 years ago, becomes joint managing director of Sinus alongside Flaig. Tautscher was most recently managing director of Millward Brown Germany, a role he took on in 2003 after Integral became Millward Brown’s Austrian licensee.

The companies said they hope the deal will help them combine Sinus’s social and cultural knowledge with Integral’s methodological expertise.