Drillinginfo Taps Banks for an IPO

Drillinginfo Inc, a company that gathers and manages data used in oil and gas exploration, has selected underwriters to lead a potential initial public offering that could value the firm at more than $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Drillinginfo is working with banks including Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup Inc on the potential offering, which could come as soon as next year, the sources said this week. They asked not be identified because the matter is not public.

"Drillinginfo does not comment on rumors and speculation, and we have made no announcements to that effect," the company said in a statement. Representatives for Morgan Stanley and Citigroup declined to comment.

The company was started in 1999 as a simple online permit database. By 2009, it was one of the largest oil and gas databases in the world due to the North American energy boom.

Austin, Texas-based Drillinginfo, which has 500 employees, offers maps, geological surveillance, land title research and related data to more than 3,200 oil and gas companies that represent 90 percent of U.S. energy production, according to its website.

The company raised $165 million in 2012 from a group of investors that included Insight Venture Partners, Battery Ventures and Eastern Advisors Private Fund.

(By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis, Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)