Fieldfisher advises the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions on the completion of the combination of NielsenIQ and GfK

As of 10 July 2023, NielsenIQ and GfK have formed a combined consumer intelligence company following clearance by the European Commission. The combined company has sales of over US$ 4 billion and more than 30,000 clients in over 100 countries with main offices in Chicago (USA), Nuremberg (Germany) and Geneva (Switzerland).
 
The Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions e.V. (NIM), advised by an international Fieldfisher team led by Dr Susanne Rückert, is, like KKR, a significant shareholder in the combined company, of which Advent International is the majority shareholder. The complex cross border transaction, which is currently one of the largest private equity transactions, was advised on the part of NIM by the Fieldfisher office in Düsseldorf with Dr Susanne Rückert (Partner, main lead), Julia Schmitz (Lead Associate) and Simone Kien (Senior Associate) as well as the Fieldfisher office in Amsterdam with Jan Schouten (Partner) and Neville Bhikha (Associate). On the US side, NIM was advised by Baker Hostetler.

The groundwork for the closing of the combination of NielsenIQ and GfK was laid in 2016 when NIM (formerly GfK Verein) contributed its majority shareholding in GfK to a partnership with US financial investor KKR with advice from Fieldfisher following a rigorous bidder selection process. Over the years, Fieldfisher has also advised NIM on KKR's takeover bid, the subsequent squeeze-out at GfK and its delisting and reorganisation. Through the cooperation of NIM and KKR, it was finally possible to combine GfK's strengths and complementary capabilities as an industry leader with NielsenIQ.