Nielsen to Bid for dunnhumby?

According to a report in the Sunday Times, Nielsen is preparing to make a bid for Tesco-owned consumer data giant dunnhumby, which has been valued at up to £2 billion.

Founded in 1989, dunnhumby analyses Tesco till data captured through its Clubcard loyalty scheme, in order to understand the shopping behaviour and purchasing patterns of millions of households worldwide.

Tesco is currently being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Reporting Council after overestimating its first half profit by £250m. The company currently has net debt of about £7.5bn versus equity of around £16.8bn, and is planning to slash capital spending to £1bn in the next financial year. In January, Tesco appointed investment bank Goldman Sachs to explore options for the sell-off of its data analytics business dunnhumby, following reports that venture capital firm TPG had approached Tesco with a c.£2bn offer. WPP has since made a bid for the data firm, reports say, and Experian is also believed to be a potential bidder.

While Nielsen is said to have added its name to the list by 'expressing an interest' in dunnhumby, it has not yet made an offer. Sources say the chance of a Nielsen bid has increased following the announcement that dunnhumbyusa - the joint venture between dunnhumby and grocery chain Kroger - had been moved into a new agency owned solely by Kroger.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.dunnhumby.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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