Financial information services group Markit has hired Goldman Sachs to orchestrate an initial public offering reports Reuters, citing "four people familiar with the process".
According to Reuters' sources, Markit is seeking to raise more than $1 billion in a US listing and is in the process of interviewing banks to fill out its underwriting syndicate.
Founded in 2001, Markit has grown to to rival Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg as a third force in the provision of financial information to banks worldwide. The firm has expanded beyond its initial focus of providing pricing for the credit markets through a series of acquisitions to include post-trade processing and risk analytics services.
In May, Temasek, Singapore's state-owned investment company, acquired a 10% stake in Markit for $500 million, valuing the company at $5 billion.
In a statement, Markit says that the company has made "no decision" to pursue a public listing.