BUSINESS LIVE: Matches goes into administration; Pollen Street makes bid for Mattioli Woods; Informa ups guidance

British private equity investor Pollen Street Capital has agreed to buy wealth manager Mattioli Woods for around £432 million, betting on the UK wealth management market.

The deal, which valued Mattioli at around 804 pence per share in cash, represents a 34 percent premium to the London-listed company’s closing price on Thursday.

Insurer Admiral said car premiums have peaked, coming as a welcome relief for drivers.

Auto insurance prices hit an all-time high last year as inflation drove up the cost of claims. But Milena Mondini of Focatiis, chief executive of the UK’s largest car insurer, said she has stopped raising car cover costs.

The FTSE 100 firm has even cut some prices to attract customers from its rivals.

Matches Fashion will be placed into administration after “consistently” failing to meet its targets and suffering “material losses”, less than three months after it was bought by parent company Frasers Group.

Matches, which was bought by Frasers in December for £52m, would need “too many changes” to restructure. And Sport Direct owner Frasers said the money Matches needs to keep trading would be “far above” what he considers viable.

“In light of this, Frasers has been informed that the directors of Matches have taken the decision to place the Matches group into administration,” Frasers said on Friday.

“Frasers remains committed to the luxury market and its associated brands.”