MENLO PARK, CA - Tesco, one of the U.K.’s Big Four, is reportedly auctioning off its subsidiary “customer science” company, Dunnhumby, with a few big names in the race. And now the U.S. equity firm Silver Lake Partners has also joined the bid, according to an AltAssets report.

Dunnhumby is invested in helping you to know your customers and what they want by using data insights, and big advertising names including Warburg Pincus, TPG, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice have reportedly talked of throwing their hats in the ring to own it.

Dunnhumby is a company that endeavors to take the collective data and information on a client's customer base and find out their current needs, as well as projecting future needs in order to better guard those companies against a competitor that may offer a service they don't. Below is an introductory video from the company with more detail of what they do to find those customer desires.

WPP, the advertising big name of clients like Heinz, Kellogg’s, Nestle, and P&G, has already expressed interest in buying the company, according to the report.

Led by the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, the auction for Dunnhumby is set to begin in April, and the bidding is already reportedly up to £2 billion, about $2.9 billion, and the company is not even on the block yet.

Keep checking in with AndNowUKnow as we continue to keep you up to date on this developing story.

Tesco

Silver Lake Partners

Dunnhumby