July 1 (Bloomberg) -- AND International Publishers NV Chief Executive Officer Maarten Oldenhof said the Dutch mapmaker will attract an investor or be sold this year.

AND is providing information about the company to ``a number of strategic and financial parties'' that requested the data, Oldenhof said in a phone interview today. Those parties include handset makers and Internet companies that need maps, he said.

Rotterdam-based AND said on April 28 it's seeking an alliance to help expand its business after larger competitors Tele Atlas NV and Navteq Corp. agreed to be bought. ThinkEquity Partners LLC, which AND hired as an adviser last year, will pick the possible buyer or investor to start negotiations with, Oldenhof said.

``It can be a capital injection or a takeover,'' the CEO said. ``It depends on what those parties want and shareholders will also have a preference. I expect this will lead to something this year.''

AND shares fell 25 cents, or 2.5 percent, to 9.70 euros in Amsterdam, giving the company a market value of 31.5 million euros ($49.8 million).

Some of the parties that requested information are from the U.S., Oldenhof said, without identifying them.

Nokia Oyj last year agreed to buy Chicago-based Navteq Corp., the world's largest maker of digital maps, for $8.1 billion. TomTom NV, Europe's largest maker of car-navigation devices, completed the acquisition of Tele Atlas for 2.9 billion euros last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marcel van de Hoef in Amsterdam at mvandehoef@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 1, 2008 12:22 EDT