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Norstat Expands with Finnish Buy
 Oslo, Norway headquartered fieldwork group Norstat has acquired the data collection arm of Hermelin Research, based in Finland, to create a new company known as Norstat Finland.
The new firm is expected to have an annual turnover of around 2.1m to 2.2m Euros.
Hermelin was founded in 1991, since when it has developed from a call centre to a full service survey company. The firm is headquartered in Norrköping, Sweden, with additional offices in Denmark. The data collection unit - known as Hermelin Finland/Suomen Tilastopalvelu - is situated in Pori on the west coast of Finland, where it employs eight full-time and 120 part-time staff.
Norstat, Hermelin and Finnish Corporate Image jointly founded CATI-specialist Suomen Tilastopalvelu in 2000 to offer a complete data collection service to the Finnish market. Through this latest transaction, Norstat buys Hermelin Finland, as well as 59% of shares in Suomen Tilastopalvelu, and plans to develop the new company further in the Finnish market by setting up a sales office in the Helsinki area.
Project Manager Risto Koivula and Site Manager Heidi Laitinen will continue in their current roles, and say that the move will be positive for both employees and customers.
John Lauring Pedersen, CEO of Norstat commented: ' We have faith in the fact that we can keep building the company in the Finnish market, and that our Finnish customers will feel happy about the assembled capacity and competence that resides in the Norstat system.'
As a result of the purchase, Norstat will be able to offer the area's largest respondent panel of 240,000 members. The firm, which currently has 1500 full- and part time employees, offers all types of data collection via CATI, CAPI, CAWI, postal and recruitment services to professional users of market research.
Web sites: www.norstat.no , www.hermelin.se and www.suomentilastopalvelu.fi .
In December, Norwegian investment group Altaria Private Equity purchased 93% of Norstat's shares, with the aim of growing the firm both in and outside Scandinavia.
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