Acxiom Denies Being Suitor For InfoGroup
“Acxiom has not made a bid for infoGroup,” Scott Maple an Acxiom spokesman, told Direct Newsline.
Acxiom was listed alongside Dun & Bradstreet and The Carlyle Group as a potential acquirer of infoGroup in a published report from Reuters.
In an e-mail, D&B spokeswoman Ana Cano said “D&B does not comment on rumors and speculation.”
InfoGroup has never officially confirmed that it is up for sale. That said, after stories in the Omaha World-Herald ran indicating it was exploring a variety of options including sale, on Nov. 1 the data and data services firm issued a statement which did not deny the report.
In its most recent quarterly financial statement, infoGroup reported making significant cuts to its sales, general and administrative expenses. Such cuts are often done to make a company’s balance sheets more attractive to potential bidders.
In the Nov. 1 statement infoGroup CEO Bill Fairfield said “we are continually evaluating the operations and prospects for the company to determine what is best for our shareholders.”
Fairfield also reiterated that, as the company announced late last year, it had retained Evercore Partners to determine what would be in the best interest of the company’s shareholders.
“We have made no decision to sell the company,” infoGroup chairman Roger Siboni added in the Nov. 1 statement. “We have several options before us, which include continuing to operate the company as an independent organization.”
According to a story dated Oct. 31 in the Omaha World-Herald, at least 33 parties have signed non-disclosure agreements which would allow access to financial records as part of a due-diligence process. The paper added that infoGroup executives were scheduled to meet during the first week of November to review preliminary bids.
Former CEO Vinod C. Gupta has not been reported as being party to any of the bids.
