GfK Extends Property Research Service 25/07/00 With the acquisition of a 49% stake in Prisma, based in Hamburg, the GfK Group is expanding its property and location research and consultancy services. The Prisma Group consists of two companies: the Prisma Institut fur Handels, Stadt und Regionalforschung which specialises in trade, urban and regional research and Prisma Projekt-Beratung, which offers project consultancy services. The company is set to achieve turnover of DM4 million in 2000. According to Elisabeth Lange, founder of Prisma, "What is particularly important to us in taking this step is the fact of GfK's independence as a market research institute, a status which has always been of prime importance to Prisma as well". Dr Eberhard Stegner, responsible for property and location research at GfK and a future co-director of Prisma, stressed the strategic nature of the new alliance, "Both companies have been successfully operating property and location research for decades. Together, we have an accumulation of expertise, which we can put to good use for our clients, not only in Germany, but also on the international scene. The extensive GfK presence throughout Europe gives us a strategic competitive edge".