It's cheerio for Experian as British parent mulls spinoff.

Donald Robert is preparing to fly solo.

Robert, chief executive of Costa Mesa-based credit bureau Experian Group, is readying for a split from the company's British parent, GUS PLC. The move is designed to give Experian--one of the largest credit reporting and financial information companies with annual sales of more than $2 billion--its own identity. "We'll have a clearer, undiluted story to tell," said Robert, who oversees 12,000 employees in 28 countries.

Experian could have a market value of at least $10 billion following an initial public offering. That would put it among the top Orange County-based companies.

That is, if the headquarters stays in Orange County.

Robert is still not certain whether Experian would trade on a U.S. stock exchange and be based in Costa Mesa, or be listed on the London Stock Exchange and be based in the U.K. "It's not a slam-dunk decision," Robert said.

Speculation about an Experian spinoff began after the company said last year it was reviewing its "strategic" options. In May, GUS said it planned to "separate" Experian, but didn't offer details.

GUS, which runs the Argos and Homebase retail chains in Britain, plans to first split off Burberry Ltd., a move that is expected later this year.

Investors see Experian as a star at GUS with consistent double-digit growth that's helped prop up its parent--a point underscored by second-quarter results reported last week. Sales at Experian, which accounts for more than a third of GUS's earnings, rose 30 percent--the steepest gain in quarterly revenue since 1998.

"Experian is still doing well, and in absolute terms they're tremendous numbers," said Simon Irwin, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. with an "outperform" recommendation on GUS stock.

Regulatory issues

One big driver for growth: acquisitions.

In April, the company paid $330 million for Santa Monica-based LowerMyBills.com, which directs users to deals on mortgage loans, auto loans and other expenses. It could pay another $50 million for LowerMyBills based on performance. "We will continue to invest in acquisitions and will continue do it in other parts of the world," Robert said. "We have no plans to let up."

Experian has been expanding beyond Europe and North America to Brazil, Russia, India, China and Korea. It recently opened a headquarters for its Asian operations in Hong Kong.

The company also is pressing regulators in Beijing to let it open a private credit bureau in China that would allow automakers to monitor customers' credit records, according to the Financial Times.

Still, there have been some challenges. In August, Experian paid $950,000 to settle a long-running dispute with the Federal Trade Commission over its Consumerinfo.com unit. Regulators said the company did not adequately disclose that consumers automatically would be signed up for a credit report monitoring service and charged $79.95 if they didn't cancel within 30 days.

Experian officials said the problem was addressed two years ago on the Web site, and the company wanted to move on.

Another challenge is keeping consumer information private. Competitors such as ChoicePoint Inc. have been embarrassed by cases of stolen customer data.

Experian has boosted training programs and policies to help combat possible data leaks. "We are extremely aware of our duty to protect safeguarded sensitive consumer data," Robert said.

He insists that Experian has two headquarters: One in Costa Mesa, where the company built its own facility to handle North American operations; the other in Nottingham, England, which oversees operations in the rest of the world.

Richard Ratner, an analyst at Seymour Pierce in London, said the Experian unit is well-known in the U.K., and it makes sense for the business to be listed there. "Our parent company is a very prominent ... stock," Robert said.

Many of its main competitors are based in the U.S., including credit reporting companies Equifax Inc. in Atlanta and TransUnion LLC in Chicago. Alpharetta, Ga.-based credit scorer ChoicePoint Inc. also is a competitor.

Some 55 percent of Experian's $2 billion in yearly revenue comes from North America, said Simon Proctor, an analyst with Charles Stanley in London. "I would imagine it would have some form of an American listing," Proctor said.

That could include a listing in London and American depositary receipts here, as with Cadbury Schweppes PLC and other British companies. Another possibility: Robert may lead the company from the U.S., even if it's based in Britain. "We're very comfortable ... with managing the company almost in a virtual sense," he said.

Either way, company officials said there would be no effect on daily functions or workers in Orange County.