American private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC is reportedly exploring a sale of Catalina Marketing Corp. Inc. in a deal that could fetch as much as $2.5 billion.

Reuters, citing sources, said that Hellman & Friedman has approached a small number of other private equity firms to solicit offers for Catalina. The marketing company has annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $200 million. Catalina could be valued at between $2 billion and $2.5 billion.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is advising Hellman & Friedman on the sale process, sources said.

Catalina works with more than 25,000 grocery, drug and department stores across the United States. These include Safeway Inc., Rite Aid Corp. and Sears Holdings Corp.'s Kmart discount chain, Reuters reported.

Catalina had a revenue of $661 million for the 12 months to the end of June, according to Moody's Investors Service Inc. Hellman & Friedman took Catalina private in a $1.7 billion deal in 2007, the report said.