PETER CRUDDAS, the City’s richest man, whose personal fortune is estimated at £750m, is preparing to float CMC, the London financial group that specialises in internet spread-betting, writes Peter Koenig.

The company believes the sale, to take place by June, will value CMC at between £725m and £800m, based on 20 times average pre-tax earnings over the past three years, including a profit of £42m-£46m for the 12 months ending March 31. The company is owned entirely by Cruddas except for small stakes held by employees.

The joint managers of the sale are Deutsche Bank and Cazenove. The legal adviser is Skadden Arps and the accountants are Baker Tilly. “We were planning to go in May,” said a banker close to the deal. “But the accountants told us there might be a slight delay.”

Cruddas, the son of a Smithfield meat-market porter and cleaner, whose twin brother is a London cabbie, lives in Monaco and commutes from there to his City office.

A workaholic, he has built CMC from scratch. Last year the company opened one of the British financial community’s first offices in China.

A flotation was planned for last autumn, but Cruddas pulled it when he learnt that weak 2003 earnings might drag down CMC’s valuation. Last year, he paid himself £37m from earnings and reserves.

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