Teachers' Private Capital, the investment arm of the C$108.5bn (£53.4bn) Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, admitted last night that it had made an out-of-the-blue ‘preliminary’ takeover approach to financial comparison website moneysupermarket’s founder, Simon Nixon, who owns 54% of the group’s shares. He rejected the approach.

TPC, which manages assets of about C$17bn, is one of the world's largest private equity investors. It says it may make another approach within the next six months, if the board recommends a bid, another group makes an offer for the company, or there is a ”material change in circumstances”.

Moneysupermarket shares closed up 22%, but fell 6.5% to 78.75p in early trading today. They were badly hit earlier this month after the company warned that its profits would be affected by Barclays’ decision to close its FirstPlus secured loans business to new customers from 9 August. FirstPlus accounted for about 10% of Moneysupermarket’s sales last year.

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