Comparison site founder scraps £90m share sale
MONEYSUPERMARKET’S shares tanked yesterday after its founder announced he was selling a £90m stake in the firm – and then cancelled his plan just hours later.
Simon Nixon owns 16.5 per cent of the online price comparison website, and on Tuesday night said he wanted to sell 35m shares – amounting to a 6.4 per cent stake in the firm.
But yesterday morning Citi, his personal brokers, announced the sale was off.
Citi and Moneysupermarket declined to comment.
City A.M. understands Nixon had a price in mind and when investors would not match that level, he pulled the sale.
As a result shares dived by more than seven per cent, before recovering some of those losses to end the day down 3.4 per cent.
“He was not happy with the price, so he didn’t sell. He doesn’t need the money,” said a source close to Nixon.
Even such a large sale would have meant Nixon remained the largest shareholder – it would have left him with a 10 per cent stake, compared with the eight per cent held by the next largest investor, Capital Research and Management.