Simon Taylor's Moneyextra.com sold to Fairpoint

21 July 2010 0:00 am | Updated: 21 July 2010 8:14 am | By Leah Milner

Simon Taylor has sold Moneyextra.com to Fairpoint for an initial sum of £1, although the firms expect the full sum on completion to be £8m due to earn-out arrangements.

Taylor (pictured) bought Moneyextra.com from AWD Chase de Vere in 2008. Prior to this Taylor co-founded Bankhall before selling it to Skandia for £180m in 2002.

Moneyextra.com is a comparison service for mortgages, savings and utilities, and refers clients to AllMyPlans for IFA services.

The company posted an operating loss of £1m for the 19 months ending September 2009.

Fairpoint is a debt solutions business for heavily-indebted borrowers, and the stock exchange listed firm believes that the acquisition of Moneyextra.com will strengthen the services it can offer those clients.

Fairpoint says that because of its client base, Moneyextra.com will benefit from not having to generate all its own leads for its services.

Fairpoint chief executive officer Chris Moat says: “The income and expenditure review we undertake with customers gives us a clear insight into where customers can reduce their bills and the addition of Moneyextra to the group provides us with a clear way of delivering savings to customers on a range of product and services.”

Moneyextra.com chairman Simon Taylor says: “This is an exciting deal for Moneyextra and our team. The natural synergies and shared market knowledge between the two companies will enable us to help more consumers improve their finances and for the group to compete on a profitable footing at a time when the price comparison market is commoditising.”

The eventual purchase price will depend on profits. The initial consideration is £1, with Fairpoint making a further £1m of working capital available to Moneyextra.com this year to replace its existing borrowings.

Under the terms of the earn-out arrangement, a further sum will be paid to the sellers of Moneyextra.com, which is contingent on a multiple of 49 per cent of future earnings for 2011-2013.

This is expected to bring the full price of the business to £8m.

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