Admiral Group PLC
12 July 2007
Admiral Group Plc today reports that it has ended discussions with potential
private equity investors regarding its subsidiary price comparison business,
Confused.com. After careful consideration of the offers made, the Board of
Admiral Group have decided to terminate this consultation process.
In response to interest shown, discussions were held with a number of private
equity firms about the sale of a minority interest in the Confused business.
Potential minority investors typically expressed an interest with an implied
valuation of the entire business in the range of £600m to £650m. However, the
corporate structure and governance demanded by minority investors was
significantly more onerous than the Board had anticipated. The Board has
therefore concluded that this weakening in its flexibility to determine the
strategy of Confused would restrict the ability to maximise Confused's potential
as part of the Admiral Group in the medium to long term.
It is for these reasons that the Board at present believes that it is in our
shareholders' best interests for the Group to retain a 100% interest in Confused
and to continue to follow our clearly defined growth strategy for the business.
That strategy is focused on maintaining Confused's strong market share of car
insurance price comparison; on maximising the value created for shareholders
from that position; and on exploiting fully the potential for Confused derived
from the growth of price comparison in other product areas.
The Group's interim results will be announced on Tuesday 4 September 2007.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange