Moneysupermarket founder Nixon's sharp placing u-turn hits company's shares

25th Mar 2015 11:20

Moneysupermarket founder Simon Nixon tried to place 35m of his shares in the company on Tuesday after markets had closed but investors have seemingly rebelled and the placing has been pulled on Wednesday morning.Analyst Jamie Constable at N+1Singer called it "a placing too far" but his personal broker, Citigroup, revealed that Nixon had decided the sale would not go ahead after all."Further to yesterday afternoon's announcement, Simon Nixon has decided not to proceed with the proposed sale of shares," the investment bank, which does not represent Moneysupermarket, said.Alistair McCaig at IG Group suggested: "Maybe with inflation now at 0% he is waiting to release these funds on another occasion, as he has compared the market and decided selling at a later date might see his money go a little further."Since Nixon floated the company on the London Stock Exchange in 2007 he has sold slightly over £400m worth of shares in the business, both at flotation and via several divestments since.