Brexit backer Peter Cruddas to sell £200m-plus of CMC Markets shares

The City tycoon Peter Cruddas, one of the key financial backers of the Brexit campaign, is planning to sell more than £200m worth of shares he owns with his wife Fiona as part of a flotation of CMC Markets, the financial spread-betting business he founded in 1989.

The founding shareholders, who own nearly 90% of the company, are expected to sell that shareholding down to about 60% in a deal that will allow CMC’s 44,000 clients to buy shares as part of a retail offer.

Clients will be prioritised over other applicants and receive a bonus share for every 10 acquired.

The group expects to be valued at approximately £750m to £800m when it lists on the stock market, depending on the success of the roadshow and general market conditions. If the deal goes ahead, it will be the first major London flotation of 2016.

“Bringing CMC to the public markets will enable us to continue to grow our global brand, build our client base, attract and retain employees and enhance our ability to enable retail traders around the world to trade,” Cruddas said.

Goldman Sachs, which owns 10% of the company, is also expected to sell a proportion of its shares. Its advisory arm is working on the deal, alongside Morgan Stanley and RBC.

The latest financial figures show a rise in earnings from £12.8m in 2013 to £59.7m in 2015. CMC is targeting £250m of total revenue by March 2020 compared with the current £158m.

A former Conservative party treasurer, Cruddas has donated £1m to the Vote Leave campaign to quit the EU and predicted that other big business names would also support severing links with Brussels. Cruddas took the role of CMC chairman as he spent more time in politics, but he returned as chief executive in 2013 after resigning from the Conservative party.

He said he was unlikely to put more money into the Brexit campaign. “It’s pretty well-funded now,” he said. It’s well run and is chugging away.”

He says the Peter Cruddas Foundation, which helps disadvantaged children, “is going to benefit. I’m not sure how much yet but I’m passionate about it.” He said he was domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.

Born in Hackney, east London, a lack of family finances forced Cruddas to leave his Shoreditch comprehensive school at 15 with no qualifications. He would not, he says, be who he is without the Scout Movement, which enabled him to “escape a violent home situation and the inner city”.

After a career in foreign exchange trading, latterly as head dealer at a large international bank, in 1989 he established CMC Markets, with a capital investment of just £10,000.

In 2013 Cruddas instructed employees to smarten up their appearance after noticing too many were wearing ripped jeans and what he considered inappropriate footwear.

He also stopped the free fresh fruit. “I may seem old fashioned but I believe hard work should be rewarded by big bonuses rather than fluffy HR perks like fresh fruit and cream teas. Coming to work is not a lifestyle, it’s the opportunity to create a career and a future,” he said at the time.