Tesco 'Receives Bid for dunnhumby'

Sky News has reported that venture capital firm TPG has approached Tesco with a c.£2bn bid to buy its data gathering and analysis subsidiary dunnhumby, the firm behind the Clubcard loyalty scheme.

Founded in 1989 by husband and wife team Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby, the firm analyses Tesco till data captured through the Clubcard, in order to analyse the shopping behaviour, purchasing patterns, and trends of millions of households worldwide. It is estimated that dunnhumby has helped save Tesco around £350m a year since the two firms began collaborating in 1995, and for the past ten years, dunnhumby has been wholly owned by Tesco.

Sky News says it has learnt that TPG has already made an approach to buy dunnhumby, and that several other firms are also considering putting in bids - some analysts have valued the subsidiary at up to £3bn. According to Sky, Tesco has rejected TPG's initial approach but the bid is still on the table.

Tesco is currently being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Reporting Council, to find out how the retail giant managed to overestimate its first half profit by £250m.

Web site: www.dunnhumby.com .