The investor paid £675m for a 30% stake in 2017
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is reportedly looking at selling its holding in price comparison website (PCW) Compare the Market.
In 2017, CPPIB announced that it had acquired a 30% stake in the PCW’s parent company BGL Group, which is also a distributor of insurance and household financial services.
However, Sky News state that CPPIB is now “exploring the sale of its stake in a deal that could value it at more than £4bn” and was lining up advisers.
According to the publication, sources said that CPPIB was not certain to offload the stake, but that any deal would likely see it value its share at up to 15 times its earnings.
The other 70% of Compare the Market is owned by BHL, which is reportedly not for sale.
Deal completion
Compare the Market is based in Peterborough and employs around 750 staff.
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CPPIB invested £675m for a 30% stake, with the deal being completed in 2018.
At the time, Ryan Selwood, former managing director and head of direct private equity at CPPIB, said the investment would see “CPPIB participate in the continued growth of a leading financial technology business serving the UK consumer insurance distribution market”.
Compare the Market and CPPIB declined to comment when approached by Sky News.
His career began in 2019, when he joined a local north London newspaper after graduating from the University of Sheffield with a first-class honours degree in journalism.
He took up the position of deputy news editor at Insurance Times in March 2023, before being promoted to his current role in May 2024.View full Profile
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