Polk to go public?

The 143-year-old family-owned business has hired New York investment bankers Evercore Partners to examine options, including selling the company, an initial public offering or even acquisitions.

According to Reuters, potential takoever bids could be as high as $1bn for the firm which generated revenues of $359m in 2011.

“There is no catalyst that made this happen,” Polk vice-president Lonnie Miller said. “We’re trying to see how we can accelerate some of the growth, and all options are on the table.”

Polk uses car registration data to build profiles on car purchase behaviour, to forecast sales and advise manufacturers on recalls, ownership and loyalty. It also owns used-car history provider Carfax.