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Maritz Research Buys in Germany
Maritz Research has acquired Wiesbaden, Germany-based MR consultancy Imagin AG, a specialist in stakeholder and customer feedback management; along with subsidiary call centre company Customer Care International GmbH (CCI).
 Imagin helps clients to keep their strategies customer-focused, and increase loyalty and satisfaction, while subsidiary CCI is based in Lörrach and specialises in customer feedback calls.
Maritz Research says its European offices grew by 25 percent in 2010, and expects 30% organic growth in the current fiscal year. Imagin's 75 employees will join Maritz Research's more than 155 staff in the UK, France and Germany, and bring global headcount to around 900.
Maritz Research bought brand perception analyst evolve24 just under a year ago. European EVP and MD Stephan Thun comments: 'With this pooled expertise, we will acquire additional clients in new industries and strengthen our existing customer relationships with new research solutions. With its specialist business solutions for employee and customer satisfaction research, Imagin perfectly complements our position in an increasingly important market.'
Imagin co-Chairman Professor Klaus W. Bochmann describes the move as 'a logical next step for our employees and our company', adding: 'Both companies have the same focus and the same future vision'. Fellow Chairman Thomas Ewen, who will also stay with the company, says the combined companies will create 'a new market leader' and 'an innovative, global force in stakeholder feedback management.'
Maritz Research was founded in 1973 and is a unit of US-based marketing services group Maritz, offering data source integration, analysis and consultancy to a range of sectors including retail, financial, automotive and technology.
Web sites: www.maritzresearch.co.uk and www.imagin-ag.de .
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