Ancestry is said to be close to hiring banks for 2017 IPO

(July 21): Genealogy website Ancestry.com is close to hiring banks to lead an initial public offering of the company this year, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The private equity-backed company is working with  Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as it plans for the IPO, which could give Ancestry.com a market value of more than US$3 billion ($4.1 billion), said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

Ancestry.com, which started life in 1983 as a family history and genealogy publisher, was taken private in 2012 by Permira and Spectrum Equity in a deal valued at about US$1.6 billion. Silver Lake and sovereign wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corp. took stakes in the company last year in a deal that gave it an enterprise value of about US$2.6 billion.

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