Experian’s plan to sell price site to Ybrant fails
CREDIT-CHECKING firm Experian said yesterday its long-awaited sale of PriceGrabber has fallen through, after purchaser Ybrant failed to close the transaction.
Experian, which announced the $175m (£108.4m) sale in May, said it considers Ybrant to be in breach of contract for not sealing the deal by the final deadline.
The UK office of India-based digital marketer Ybrant did not respond to requests for comment.
Experian will continue to treat the assets as discontinued operations as it looks at options to sell the business, which grew organic revenues by one per cent in the five months to the end of August.
The FTSE 100 company snapped up PriceGrabber for around $485m in 2005, when it was part of the GUS group that once owned Argos and a majority stake in Burberry.
Experian considered selling PriceGrabber as early as 2008, but failed to attract high enough bids as the financial crisis began to bite.
“Clearly this is a disappointment for shareholders,” said Shore Capital analyst Robin Speakman in a note.
“We expect Experian to pursue Ybrant in so for as is possible for breach of contract.”