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Enterprise

GoCompare agrees £594m sale to magazine publisher Future

Future has warned over job losses among GoCompare's 400 staff as looks to achieve £10m in cost savings after the deal that one analyst has described as 'baffling'
 

Gio Compario

The magazine publisher Future has agreed a £594m package to buy the proce comparison website GoCompare.

The takeover is set to net insurance tycoon Sir Peter Wood another hefty windfall.

Future, which is the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's biggest magazine group with titles including Country Life and Total Guitar, will pay 136p a share and offer stock in the combined group, which will see GoCompare investors own around 19% of the enlarged firm.

Sir Peter, the chairman of GoCompare and its largest shareholder, is in line to pocket approximately £41.3m in cash from the deal, which values his 29.7% holding at around £170 million.

He will also become a top five shareholder of Future after the tie-up.

Future warned over job losses among GoCompare's 400 staff as it strips out duplication in head office and back office functions to achieve £10 million in cost savings after the deal.

It has committed to keeping GoCompare's site in Newport, South Wales, but is set to shut a small head office in London's Soho.

Future owns more than 400 brands and has around 2,300 employees.