Forsa Rescues Marplan from Bankruptcy

In Germany, full service agency and polling specialist Forsa Society for Social Research and Statistical Analysis (Forsa) has acquired certain parts of market research agency Marplan, which filed for bankruptcy last year. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Dortmund and Berlin-based Forsa, which was founded in 1984, conducts a broad range of market, opinion and social research, including marketing, media and social studies, election and political surveys and online research.

Founded in 1959, Offenbach-headquartered Marplan offers nationwide omnibuses, face-to-face surveys, single source media analyses, as well as a range of marketing, social, and ad research services covering the consumer, retail, industrial and pharma sectors. The firm employs about 30 staff.

Under its new leadership, Marplan will now be known as Marplan Media and Social Research Society, and Forsa says that the acquisition will add new areas of expertise to its existing range of research methods.

Prof Manfred Güllner, Forsa's founder and CEO, explained: 'Marplan was in a financial crisis because of difficulties in the economy. An institution with such a great past must not disappear from the market, and I look forward to an optimistic future.'

Web sites: www.forsa.com and www.marplan.de .