Top traders scoop £145m share jackpot

FOUNDERS of Plus500 will pocket £145.5m after offloading a raft of shares in the online trading platform.

The company, which is set to join the FTSE 250 later this month, said Alon Gonen, Gal Haber, Elad Ben-Izhak, Omer Elazari and Shlomi Weizmann plan to dispose of a total of 9.4m shares at £15.50 each. It means halving their aggregate 16pc stake in the business.

The founders claimed the sale was ‘in response to significant demand from a small number of institutional investors’.

However, the company said the move also ‘reflects their desire to diversify their investments whilst raising funds for personal reasons’.

The shares will be sold through Liberum Capital Ltd to a limited number of investors, according to Plus500, which will not receive proceeds from the sale. The firm’s stock rose 1.39pc, or 22p, to 1608p.