(Reuters) -Purell hand sanitizer maker GOJO Industries is exploring options including a full sale or offloading a minority stake, with any deal likely to value the privately-held company at close to $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

GOJO is holding conversations with private equity firms and working with investment bank Harris Williams on the process, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is private. They cautioned that the conversations are at an early stage and no deal is guaranteed.

"GOJO has had an extraordinary few years of performance, and there are many opportunities to bring our purpose, the Purell brand, and our market-making solutions to more people and places," said GOJO's spokesperson.

"As we explore these growth opportunities, we are also identifying the best ways to fund this exciting future."

Harris Williams did not respond to a comment request.

The Lippman-Kanfer family that owns GOJO tried to sell their Akron, Ohio-based company in 2023, receiving offers from both private equity firms and companies, but bids didn't come in at their desired price. The suitor that came closest to a deal was Georgia-Pacific, a company owned by Koch Industries, Reuters reported at the time.

Instead, the company opted to take $500 million of new debt from Silver Point Finance, the direct lending business of Silver Point Capital, which they used to repay existing debt and fund investments and operations.

Sales of hand sanitizer sky rocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but sources said GOJO's financials have normalized since then.

GOJO was founded in 1946, when rubber factory worker Goldie Lippman and her husband, Jerry, partnered with chemistry professor Clarence Cook to invent what became the world's first one-step, rinse-off hand cleaner. The company expanded into skincare and invented Purell, an alcohol-based hand cleaner which dries on its own, in 1988. The company launched Purell in the consumer market in 1997.

GOJO sells its products, which also include soaps, wipes, and surface disinfecting sprays, to consumers, but a big part of its sales are business-to-business. Schools, hospitals and stadiums around the world have dispensers of Purell products.