£200m windfall for the Tory tycoon behind betting giant

CITY tycoon Peter Cruddas – a key backer of the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union – looks set for a windfall of more than £200m by selling shares in his spread-betting empire.

The 62-year-old entrepreneur ( pictured) and former Tory Party treasurer left school at 15 with no qualifications before setting up CMC Markets in 1989 with £10,000.

He is now planning to float the company on the stock market in London in a deal that is expected to value it at between £750m and £800m.

Cruddas, who owns 90pc of the company with his wife Fiona, will reduce his stake to 60pc, giving him a windfall of between £225m and £240m for the 30pc he sells.

The deal is slated to go ahead next month, making it the first major float in London of 2016.

Cruddas said he has had a ‘strong response from potential investors’ despite turmoil on the financial markets since the turn of the year. ‘Having grown the business from its beginnings in 1989, I am in the privileged position of having seen the market go through many changes,’ he said. ‘Bringing CMC to the public markets will enable us to continue to grow our global brand.’ It is not the first time CMC has eyed a listing in London: in 2006, a float was pulled because of volatility on the financial markets.

A valuation of £750m to £800m would be an embarrassment for Goldman Sachs which in 2007 paid £140m for a 10pc stake – valuing CMC then at £1.4bn.

Cruddas, whose Peter Cruddas Foundation helps disadvantaged children, was made co-treasurer of the Conservative Party in 2011 but resigned in 2012.

Last year he gave £1m to the Vote Leave group campaigning for Britain to leave the EU.

CMC is an official partner of Sir Ben Ainslie – the competitive sailor and Olympic gold medallist – and his Land Rover BAR team which hopes to be the first British team to win the America’s Cup yachting competition.