Munro CEO Richard Hepburn said the sale was “an extremely positive development for both parties”, allowing Munro to focus on its research and consultancy business while bolstering Facts’ scale in fieldwork.

Together, Facts and Acefieldwork boast more than 1,000 telephone interviews, 1,000 mystery shoppers, 3,000 face-to-face interviewers and 700 qual recruiters.

The businesses will continue to trade separately until next year, when the plan is to merge the companies into one “centre of excellence for fieldwork” within Chime’s research and engagement division.

Division CEO and Facts boss Crispin Beale (pictured) said: “We aim to build a ‘superteam’ from these joint resources that offers best-in-class fieldwork in the UK and further afield.”

Following the acquisition, Acefieldwork’s client services director Shirley Featherstone becomes Facts’ field operations director, while Kerry Ovenden becomes telephone operations director. Both report to group operations director Mark Squires.