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Permira Advisers LLC, the buyout firm that owns most of
privately held Ancestry, has hired investment banks to run an
auction for the company, the people said this week.
The sources asked not to be identified because the sale process
is confidential. Permira declined to comment, while an Ancestry
spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Based in Provo, Utah, Ancestry has a database of more than 15
billion historical records and more than 2.1 million paying
subscribers. Subscription fees accounted for 83 percent of its
total revenue of $619.6 million last year.
In addition to offering genealogical data, Ancestry provides a
DNA service that allows customers to discover their genetic
ethnicity and find relatives with a common ancestral match.
Permira outbid other private equity firms to take Ancestry
private in 2012 for $1.6 billion. Ancestry's subscription
revenues have grown to $553.8 million last year from $334.6
million in 2012.
Ancestry's adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation
and amortization were $214.8 million in 2014, according to its
most recent annual report.
Permira, a European private equity firm, manages funds with
about 25 billion euros ($27.7 billion) in committed capital.
(Adds dropped comma in first paragraph)
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in San Francisco and Greg
Roumeliotis in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon)
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