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ToLuna Welcomes Greenfield Staff
ToLuna CEO Frederic-Charles Petit has welcomed the staff of the Internet Survey Solutions (ISS) division of Greenfield Online to his firm, following the completion of its acquisition from Microsoft.
 The $40m (£24m+) deal, which was first announced at the end of June, will almost triple ToLuna's headcount, and will make it the largest of the independent online market research panel providers.
ISS operates panels in more than 28 countries and has offices in ten. The enlarged group now employs over 700 people spread across 11 countries, and will have a corporate client base of in excess of 1,000 companies.
'We welcome the staff of ISS to ToLuna,' said Petit. 'Our initial discussions with ISS have encouraged us that the combined group will deliver innovation in technology which will benefit both our customers and panel members. In addition, we are encouraged that the combined group will deliver better and more stable online samples and deliver increased shareholder value.'
The firm's Board expects several million dollars of synergies and, after adjusting for integration costs, it anticipates enhanced earnings per share in the year ending 31 December 2010.
ToLuna shareholder Verlinvest, a Belgian based private equity group, now holds a 13.38% stake in the combined company, and will appoint its MD Frédéric de Mevius as a Non-Executive Director on the Toluna Board.
Web site: www.toluna-group.com .
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