An article in Saturday’s Omaha World-Herald said “at least 33 potential bidders have signed confidentiality agreements with Evercore [the financial advisor appointed by InfoGroup to assess bids] that would allow them access to financial information about InfoGroup to help them prepare appropriate bids.”

Company officials are expected to review the bids this week, the World-Herald reported.

InfoGroup declined to comment on the specifics of the newspaper report, but CEO Bill Fairfield said in a statement yesterday: “We are continually evaluating the operations and prospects for the company to determine what course is best for our shareholders. As we announced on 22 December 2008, the company’s independent directors retained Evercore Partners as independent financial advisor to assist the company in determining what would be in the best interests of all shareholders, and that process continues.”

Roger Siboni, chairman of the company’s board of directors, said: “We have made no decision to sell the company. We have several options before us, which include continuing to operate the company as an independent organisation. Whichever course we follow will be determined by what optimises value for all our shareholders.”

A sale of the company was suggested back in December last year, when former chairman and CEO Vin Gupta said he was “exploring a proposal” to buy the firm, but would also consider selling his stake “in connection with a sale of the entire company” to another buyer.

Bernard Reznicek, the firm’s chairman at that time, said that the firm would always act in the interests of its shareholders, but that it was a “challenging time to try to maximise shareholder value by selling the company”.