NEW YORK (Reuters) – SelectQuote has hired investment banks for an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the owner of the eponymous insurance policy comparison website at more than $2 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
SelectQuote is working with banks that include Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) on an IPO that could come in the first half of this year, subject to market conditions, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is not public.
Overland Park, Kansas-based SelectQuote did not respond to a request for comment. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse declined to comment.
SelectQuote allows consumers to compare insurance policies, such as life, auto and home insurance, from providers including American International Group (AIG.N), Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) and Liberty Mutual to get the best pricing and most suitable policy.
While using websites to compare and buy insurance products is commonplace around the world, the U.S. insurance industry has been slower to embrace technology as means of bypassing traditional insurance brokers.
In September, Prudential said it would pay $2.35 billion for Assurance IQ, a startup that uses data science and machine learning to speed up the insurance buying process.
