Ayala's Integreon acquires US firm

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-backed Integreon, the global leader in integrated knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), has acquired Grail Research, a US-based strategic research and decision support firm, from the Monitor Group, Monitor Group has also signed a five-year contract to buy research services from Integreon.

Integreon is owned by its management team and Livelt Investments, Ayala Corp.’s business process outsourcing (BPO) investment arm.

“Grail will enable Integreon to further climb the value chain, and will strengthen its position as the leading KPO company,” LiveIt Investments CEO Fred Ayala said.

LiveIt Investments is the holding company of Ayala Corp. in the BPO sector, with significant holdings in Stream, Integreon and Affinity Express.

Grail Research provides the market intelligence and strategic research that global corporations need to make decisions in today’s rapidly changing business environment. It serves the world’s leading technology, consumer products and life sciences organizations, including Microsoft, Estée Lauder and a majority of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies.

These organizations rely on Grail Research to provide the insights they need to launch products, build brands, assess new opportunities, evaluate mergers and acquisitions and partnership deals, address competitive threats and understand regulatory issues.

“I am delighted to welcome the entire Grail Research team to Integreon. This acquisition accelerates the expansion of our business intelligence, research and analytics business with high-end, custom market research,” Integreon CEO Liam Brown said.

Meanwhile, Integreon Managed Solutions (Philippines) president Erik Tabuena noted that with the addition of Grail’s capabilities, Integreon can meet the most demanding global research requirements of its investment banking, law firm and corporate clients on an enterprise basis.

“Grail also expands our global delivery and service capability to South Africa and China, which are strategic markets for Integreon,” Tabuena added.

Colin Gounden, CEO and founder of Grail Research, has joined Integreon as chief marketing officer and will report directly to Brown. Gounden brings to Integreon nearly 20 years of strategy consulting and research experience and as a senior partner and board member of Monitor Group, has advised executives from leading global corporations on their most strategic challenges.

“I’m genuinely excited about the growth opportunities that Integreon provides. Together we expect to strengthen Integreon’s market-leading position as the next-generation research and analytics firm,” Gounden said.

“We formed Grail Research in 2006 to provide global corporations and Monitor Group consultants with strategic market intelligence and decision support services,” said Steve Jennings, co-managing partner of Monitor Group.

“With the rapid growth of Grail Research and the still substantial opportunity to expand its scope and scale of services, we realized that Integreon offers the best platform for Grail to achieve its full potential. We have signed a five-year research contract with Integreon; as a continuing customer of Grail, we look forward to benefitting from the growth in capabilities that Grail’s new owner, Integreon, will help drive,” Jennings added.