Comparethemarket.com owner BGL scraps London listing plans

BGL Group, owner of Comparethemarket.com, said on Thursday it would sell a 30 percent stake for about 675 million pounds ($899 million) to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) instead of listing its shares in London. BHL, the owner of BGL Group, will retain a majority shareholding in the business and the deal is expected to be completed by the end of April, it said.
"During the course of our IPO preparations, our shareholder BHL received a number of approaches from different kinds of investors... A competitive process followed and our view was that CPPIB was the best partner for BGL," the chairman of BGL Group, Peter Winslow, said.
The announcement is another blow to the London Stock Exchange after earlier this month telecoms masts firm Arqiva, Britain's biggest debt collector Cabot Credit Management and business services firm TMF Group all pulled deals.