Businessweek

A lawsuit by auto dealers has put a chill on the potential sale of R. L. Polk & Co. (OTCPK:POLL), people familiar with the matter said. Corporate buyers and a host of private-equity firms, including The Carlyle Group LP (NasdaqGS:CG) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE:KKR) are interested in Polk, the people said. Polk has retained bankers to explore alternatives. A representative for Polk said: "We do not anticipate that [the suit] will have an effect on the ongoing process of evaluating our strategic growth alternatives."

R. L. Polk & Co. confirmed that it is exploring strategic growth opportunities which include a possible sale. R. L. Polk has appointed Evercore Partners Inc. to advice on the alternatives. "R.L. Polk & Co. has engaged Evercore Partners, which is a New York investment banking firm. They are exploring strategic growth opportunities with us," R. L. Polk’s Vice President, Lonnie Miller told The Detroit News. Miller declined to specify what those opportunities might be, but he did not dispute a Wall Street Journal report stating that R. L. Polk is being shopped and could fetch around $1 billion. Miller said that no deadline has been set for concluding a sale or any other action. "We're at the beginning of this process," Miller said.

People familiar with the matter said that R. L. Polk & Co. is putting itself up for sale. People familiar with the matter said that a potential sale of R. L. Polk will result in change of ownership for the first time in about 140 years. According to one of the people, Polk could raise approximately $1 billion from its sale.

R. L. Polk & Co. announced that Brad Korner has been promoted to vice president, sales and client services-automotive retail solutions (ARS) and media. In his new role, Korner will lead the ARS and Media Group with responsibility for managing and growing these businesses. He previously served as director of sales and client services for the ARS group. Prior to joining Polk, Korner spent nearly 24 years with Reynolds and Reynolds.

HookLogic has worked with R. L. Polk & Co. to integrate Polk's predictive scoring and segmentation data into version 2.0 of its solution for automotive dealers. The solution has delivered an average 20% increase in close rates and $185 cost per incremental vehicle sale to the dealers that have utilized Lead to Show 2.0 to date.