Jupiter sells stake in Starling Bank

Jupiter Asset Management is reportedly selling its stake in Starling Bank and has made a policy to stop its open-ended funds from buying into private companies.

According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, the decision was made to reduce risks for investors.

The decision follows the news in September that Jupiter was set to close a deal to sell its Starling equity to a price of c.£100m.

Now the fund group is understood to have signed an agreement with institutional investors to offload its stake.

Jupiter sold the six per cent stake in Starling held by its open-ended fund – mainly by its £1bn Jupiter UK Mid Cap fund – to a group of existing shareholders.

This included investment trust Chrysalis, which said in a statement that it agreed to purchase £20m of equity – 15 per cent of the fund’s total investments.

Commenting on the transaction, Chrysalis’s investment adviser said it is optimistic and thinks it will generate future for value for the company’s shareholders.

Jupiter CEO Matt Beesley said in a letter to clients that “as a result of the sustained market volatility we have experienced in recent years it is also clear to us that investor sentiment towards holding unlisted assets in open-ended funds has changed”.

Jupiter is now stopping its open-ended funds from making new investments in unlisted companies in an effort to protect investors.

Beesley added that the company still holds small stakes in a few other unlisted assets, but will “prudently manage these exposures” over time.

Starling’s CEO Anne Boden has previously shared her hopes of taking the bank public, at one point indicating it would happen by 2023.

Starling Bank declined to comment. Jupiter did not reply to request for comment at the time of publication.