Gocompare goes on the block

The future of aggregators has come under the spotlight yet again after it emerged today that Gocompare.com founder Hayley Parsons was considering selling the company.

Parsons has brought in accounting firm Grant Thornton to carry out a strategic review of the price comparison site, according to media reports.

Esure has been linked with acquiring a controlling stake in Gocompare.com in the past, but for the moment the personal lines insurer seems happy with its 49% share.

Esure founder and chairman Peter Wood told Insurance Times last year that he had been in contact with Parsons about a deal, but with esure pre-occupied with getting its IPO off the ground that may still be some way away.

Esure certainly would not be the first to try and crack the UK aggregator market this year. Others have tried with varying degrees of success.

French insurer Covéa’s UK arm scrapped plans to launch its £20m aggregator in June.

Then, Google, which swooped for BeatThatQuote.com last year, launched its motor insurance price comparison service, backed with its almost limitless search engine capabilities. That propelled it to the position of second most visible aggregator within the second day of operation.

But despite strong public awareness of the brand, doubts remain as to whether Google will make it in the market owing to heavy competition, including Gocompare.com, Comparethemarket.com, Confused.com and Moneysupermarket.com, and its low-key approach.

Should a sale go through, Parsons’ future would also come into question.

With a 23% stake in the company, which is valued at £500m, Parsons stands to potentially collect £100m from any sale. After rapidly climbing the ranks at Admiral before launching Gocompare.com, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her start up another venture from scratch.