Philips decided to cash in on its then 83.5% holding in Navteq with a successful IPO in April 2004. Now it has sold 30 million shares with a secondary offering and has given the underwriters a 30-day option to buy the remaining 3.1 million shares.
Philips began funding Chicago, Illinois-based Navteq in 1998. The company now claims to be the market leader in digital mapping information but Philips deems it to be non-core to its operations.
