The parent company of online property platform Zoopla is to be sold for £2.2 billion.
American private equity firm Silver Lake has moved to acquire ZPG, which also owns price comparison service uSwitch and finance comparison website Money.co.uk.
“ZPG is a great growth technology company,” said Silver Lake managing director Simon Patterson.
“It has established strong positions in property classifieds, home and financial services markets by innovating in product and marketing.”
Zoopla, which was founded in 2007 by Alex Chesterman and floated in 2014, carries sale and rental listings for nearly 15,000 estate agent branches in the UK.
“Silver Lake is the global leader in technology investing and I am firmly of the belief that ZPG will benefit from their technology expertise and global network which will help accelerate our growth,” said Chesterman.
Newspaper group the Daily Mail and General Trust is set for a £642 million windfall from its 30 per cent stake in ZPG. It merged its property portals Findaproperty and PrimeLocation with ZPG in 2012.
ZPG’s websites and apps attract more than 50 million visits a month.