Market research firms Market Strategies International in Livonia and Morpace in Farmington Hills Tuesday announced they are combining into one firm as part of an acquisition by STG, a private equity firm in California. The transaction is expected to add new investment to the combined firm and accelerate growth.
Market Strategies and Morpace will be fully integrated and co-located under a new brand, to be announced later this year. The new firm will remain headquartered in Michigan.
“This merger was meant to be,” says Melissa Sauter, president of Market Strategies, which uses consultative data analytics to help organizations solve complex business and marketing challenges. “It benefits our clients and employees in so many ways.”
The companies’ research specialties include brand, customer experience, and product development and segmentation. The acquisition is also expected to offer customers stronger data solutions, operational excellence, and client centricity. The companies have served customers in the automotive, consumer/retail, energy, financial services, health, technology, and telecommunications industries.
“According to the American Marketing Association, our collective firm will become the 15th largest market research firm (based on total revenue) in the U.S., with more than 450 research consultants. Morpace and Market Strategies also share a culture of relentless commitment to better, faster, stronger, so uniting is a natural evolution,” says Duncan Lawrence, president and CEO of Morpace. “The research industry is increasingly driven by technology. STG was uniquely attractive as a partner due to its success in the industry and demonstrated track record in applying technology to transform insights-oriented businesses.”
STG is based in Palo Alto and works to transform high-potential software and technology-enabled services companies into market leaders. It has worked with insights-oriented companies including IRI, Simmons Research, Symphony Health Solutions, AlphaImpactRx, Hitwise, and Evidera.
“Morpace and Market Strategies are excellent firms with superb blue-chip client relationships and a demonstrated history and commitment to quality work,” says J.T. Treadwell, managing director at STG. “They are complementary firms in regards to culture and industry coverage, and we believe that both firms will gain from the others’ capabilities. We look forward to helping them accelerate their current plans of leveraging technology and software-driven analytics into high-quality customer engagements.”
This pre-arranged merger transaction was initiated by JEGI, a leading independent investment bank that served as exclusive financial adviser to the owners and management of Market Strategies and Morpace.
