Yahoo Finance Admiral sells Confused.com to Zoopla in £508m deal
Zoopla Property Group (ZPG) is buying the insurer Admiral’s UK and European price comparison businesses as it continues its rapid growth 12 years after its launch.
ZPG’s price comparison arm, RVU, will pay £508m for Admiral’s Penguin Portals, which includes Confused.com and Rastreator.com; its 50pc share in Preminen Price Comparison; and the Spanish insurance giant Mapfre’s 50pc stake in Preminen and 25pc stake in Rastreator.com
Admiral expects to get about £450m and plans to return most of the proceeds to shareholders, saying the deal was good value for them. It is keeping hold of its US comparison business compare.com.
ZPG was brought by Silver Lake Partners in 2018 and owns the property website Zoopla. RVU's brands include the price comparison site U-Switch, and the energy tariff site Save on Energy.
Tariq Syed, chief executive of RVU, said: “Penguin Portals offers an exciting opportunity for us to expand our consumer brand portfolio and geographic reach.
“With its focus on insurance, Confused.com perfectly complements Uswitch’s existing expertise in the home services category.”
David Stevens, chief executive of Admiral Group, said: “Admiral will continue to focus on what Admiral has consistently done well, namely designing and underwriting good value mass market financial service products.
“Comparison will continue to be Admiral’s most important distribution channel in Europe and we look forward to continuing to work closely with Confused.com, Rastreator and LeLynx as they continue to grow and strengthen the customer offering.”
Admiral said the deal would “slightly reduce” the future earnings of the group. Penguin contributed £22.3m to Admiral’s profits in 2019 and £13.6m for the six months ending June 30.
Elena Betes, chief executive of Penguin Portals, and her senior management team will move across to RVU.
Ms Betes said: “Becoming part of a global network of brands and platforms, united by the same mission to help people make better decisions, will bring significant benefits to our customers and our people.”
Admiral’s shares rose 2.9pc in afternoon trading to 3,008p.
