Technology

Posted on September 7, 2017 by staff

Zoopla owner does £140m deal for Money.co.uk

Technology

ZPG Plc, which owns high-profile companies such as Zoopla, has acquired Dot Zinc Ltd – which trades as Money.co.uk – in a £140m deal.

The London-based company owns and operates some of the UK’s most trusted property and household-related digital brands including Zoopla, uSwitch, PrimeLocation and Hometrack.

It has conditionally agreed to acquire the financial services comparison platform for £80 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis, plus a performance-based earn-out of up to £60 million.

Founded in 2008 and with over 2 million visits a month to its website, Money is one of the UK’s leading financial services comparison websites.

It lets consumers compare thousands of deals from over 600 providers across more than 60 product categories including mortgages, loans, credit cards, bank accounts and insurance. Last year Money generated revenues of £24.7m with an Adjusted EBITDA of £8m.

“We are delighted to announce this transaction,” said Alex Chesterman, founder & CEO of ZPG.

“Adding Money, one of the UK’s leading financial services comparison websites, to our existing brand portfolio will further enhance our product capabilities and consumer engagement across both our comparison and property platforms.

“Broadening our financial services offering has long been a key part of our strategy and I look forward to welcoming Chris and his team to the ZPG family.”

The acquisition is at the heart of ZPG’s strategy to offer the widest range of relevant products across its platforms and is an ideal fit, with both businesses focussed on empowering consumers to make better-informed property and home-related decisions.

Money’s strong financial services comparison offering is highly complementary to ZPG’s market-leading position in home services comparison via its uSwitch brand.

The combination will allow consumers to benefit from the best-in-class products across all ZPG’s platforms which attract over 50 million visits per month with over 10 million registered users.

Money has a highly experienced team of over 50 staff with significant financial services comparison market expertise, operating out of its award-winning offices in Cirencester.Following completion, Money will continue to operate as a standalone brand and platform, headed up by founder & CEO, Chris Morling.

“I am very proud of what we have achieved over the last nine years,” said Morling.

“We have developed a strong brand and loyal following and are looking forward to the next phase of our growth.

“ZPG has led the way as an innovative digital consumer champion and we are looking forward to helping even more consumers make better-informed decisions as part of ZPG.”