Paris - Jean-Marc Lech and Didier Truchot, Co-Presidents of Ipsos, announce today the acquisition of 60% of the Strategic Puls group, the main independent research company in the Balkans. The company is established in seven countries, among which Serbia and Croatia where it achieves 91% of its activities. Strategic Puls was born out of the merger of Puls and Strategic Marketing. Puls was created in 1993 in Croatia and since 1995, it had also been operating in Slovenia,
Albania and Bosnia Herzegovina. Strategic Marketing was created in 1997 in Serbia and had also capacities in Macedonia and Montenegro. The company, that employs 144 people, is managed by its two founders: Srdjan Bogosavljevic, based in Belgrade and Srdjan Dumicic, based in Zagreb. In 2007, Strategic Puls achieved a turnover of 8 million euros.

Shane Farrell, CEO of the Central and Eastern Europe and Africa area: The Balkans represent a research market of 60 million euros that is expected to grow strongly. Ipsos has had offices in Central Eastern Europe (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania) but had no capacities in the Balkans so far. With Strategic Puls, the Group can now count on operational capacities in this strategic area which will enable Ipsos to serve its major clients in these new markets."