Ipsos is to acquire Livra Panels, the leading online research company in Latin America
Mardi 24 juin 2008 / 17h45
Paris, June 24th, 2008. Jean-Marc Lech and Didier Truchot, Co-Presidents of Ipsos, announce today the acquisition of Livra, the leading online research company in Latin America, which provides online panels and data collection services for top market research agencies in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets.
Founded in 1999 by Martín Añazco and Diego Meller, Livra pioneered online market research in Latin America. Since its inception the company has registered an impressive growth, particularly over the last two years when it increased its revenues threefold.
Livra runs a panel of 1 million Spanish and Portuguese speaking panellists in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela. Its development plans include the US Hispanic market.
Livra, which currently has teams in Buenos Aires, London, Mexico City and Sao Paulo will continue to operate independently, managed by founders Martín Añazco and Diego Meller.
Efrain Ribeiro, Chief Operating Officer at Ipsos Interactive Services, said: "From the beginning Livra has been the pioneer in online access panels in Latin America. Their proven Internet expertise and innovative panel applications will have an impact at Ipsos on a global scale by helping us to redefine the online respondent experience. We are delighted to have them join our team at Ipsos".
"There is no equivalent business to Livra in Latin America. They have very talented teams who understand how to build and engage panels and do research online", said Gonzalo Santamarina, CEO of Ipsos in Argentina. "Thanks to this acquisition Ipsos reinforces its strong capabilities in Latin America, and improves its positioning in the growing online business."
"This is an exciting new opportunity for Livra" said Martín Añazco, co-founder of Livra. "Ipsos understood our strategy and realized how our platform could ultimately be applied on a bigger scale. This partnership will help us push these innovations even further and provide huge benefits to our clients."
Diego Meller, co-founder of Livra, added "We believe that in combining our strong experience in online research and Ipsos' leadership in Latin America we will be able to give a better, more comprehensive service to our clients, as well as consolidate our leadership and make our panels grow faster than ever, both in terms of size, quality and profiling."
About Ipsos and Ipsos Interactive Services
Founded in Paris, France, in 1975, Ipsos is the only independent, publicly-listed research company that is controlled and managed by research professionals. Ipsos ranks third among global survey-based research companies, focusing on five core specialisations: Advertising, Marketing, Media, Opinion and Social Research, and Customer Relationship Management research.
Since the creation of Ipsos Interactive Services in 1998, Ipsos has continually invested to provide a high level of technical expertise, enabling the Group to set the standard for quality in the field of online research. Its access panels of 1.6 million individual members provide an extensive online research capacity in more than 24 countries. With the addition of Livra in Latin America, Ipsos is now one of the main global operators for online research.
With an effective presence in 56 countries, Ipsos conducts research in more than 100 countries. In 2007, Ipsos generated global revenues of 927.2 million euros ($1.27 billion USD).
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