J.D. Power Explores Sale, Other Options

J.D. Power & Associates, the market research firm best known for its automotive quality surveys, has hired an investment firm to explore financing options that could include a sale of the privately held company.

“We’re in the early stage and every option is on the table,” said Tom Shaver, a senior partner in the Westlake Village firm.

Power has hired Evercore Partners Inc., an investment firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles, as its advisor.

Because of the company’s size -- 670 employees worldwide and a potential market value of as much as $400 million -- large marketing and advertising companies would be the most logical buyers should a sale result.

Shaver said the company was looking at various options, including raising additional funding to “capitalize on a number of ambitious growth opportunities” identified in a recent in-house study.

The firm was founded 36 years ago by J. David Power III, a market researcher who’d worked for Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. He stepped down as chief executive several years ago but is still chairman and remains active in the firm.

Although its forte has been automotive studies, the company now conducts product quality and consumer satisfaction research in 15 business sectors including telecommunications, real estate, banking, insurance and travel.

Its ratings of consumer satisfaction with auto manufacturers, their vehicles and dealers remain Power’s most celebrated products, and are widely cited in automakers’ advertising campaigns.