The owner of Uswitch, one of Britain’s biggest price comparison platforms, and Zoopla, the online property portal, is plotting a break-up that could lead to the sale of some of Britain’s best-known consumer websites in the next 12 months.

Sky News has learnt that Silver Lake Partners, the American private equity firm, has hired two investment banks to launch a review of strategic options for the assets which sit within holding company ZPG.

This weekend, City sources said that JP Morgan and Arma Partners had been engaged by Silver Lake in recent weeks to advise on the project.

Although no firm decisions have been reached about the future of ZPG’s operating businesses, a series of sale processes for its various assets is seen as the likeliest outcome.

The most prominent of the group’s subsidiaries is RVU, a smaller holding company which owns Confused.com, the insurance comparison venture; Uswitch; Money.co.uk; mortgage brokerage Mojo Mortgages; and Tempcover, a temporary car insurance provider.

ZPG also has three other businesses: Zoopla, which sits behind Rightmove in the rankings of Britain’s biggest property portals; Hometrack, a property information site which also has common ownership with PrimeLocation.com; and Alto Software Group, which provides software services to estate agents through a further group of subsidiaries.

Silver Lake took ZPG private from the London Stock Exchange in 2018 in a deal worth about £2.2bn.

Since then, it has acquired a number of other businesses, and reorganised itself into four more independent entities which sit within the ZPG holding company.

A source indicated that there was “no particular path or outcome” for the strategic review to take.

Confused.com was added to the group in 2020 when it was absorbed by RVU following the brand’s acquisition from Admiral, the London-listed insurer.

ZPG has also sold several assets, including RVU’s international arm, in 2023.

Industry sources said there was little or no chance of ZPG being sold in one transaction, with its assets more likely to be offloaded through several processes operating on distinct timetables.

The valuation that ZPG’s subsidiaries might fetch in future sale processes was unclear this weekend, with some potentially worth less than their implied value in the 2018 takeover.

Many of ZPG’s businesses operate in markets which have come under increasing pricing pressure, with growing competition placing a tighter squeeze on margins.

Uswitch, which claims to have saved consumers close to £3bn on their household bills since sits launch in 2000, is expected to attract interest from bidders, according to insiders.

Other mooted transactions in the price comparison sector, such as the sale of a minority stake in Compare The Market, have not materialised.

Moneysupermarket, which is now publicly traded under the name Mony Group, is among the other major players in the industry.

Accounts filed at Companies House for Zephyr Midco 2 Limited for the year ended December 31, 2023 showed group revenues of £451.5m, up from £391m the previous year.

It made an operating loss from continuing operations of £23.3m, against a comparable figure of £630.1m in 2022.

Silver Lake is one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, holding stakes in companies including Manchester City Football Club’s immediate parent, City Football Group, and the RAC breakdown recovery service.

Sky News revealed last month that the RAC’s owners were preparing to pursue a stock market flotation or sale of the company.

The buyout firm is also an investor in the New Zealand All Blacks’ commercial rights entity, following a protracted approval process.

Silver Lake declined to comment.

The world’s largest money manager will use President Trump’s state visit to the UK next week to unveil a £500m plan to invest in UK data centres, one of the fastest-growing areas of global infrastructure spending.

Sky News has learnt that BlackRock plans to announce a joint venture with Digital Gravity Partners, a digital infrastructure investment manager, that will focus on acquiring and modernising existing data centres to improve their capacity.

The project will be among dozens hailed by the government as evidence of the strength of the economic partnership between Britain and the US, as President Trump arrives in the UK against the politically tumultuous backdrop of Lord Mandelson’s sacking as the US ambassador.

BlackRock, which has more than $12.5 trillion in assets under management, has a significant presence in Britain, and will next week open a new Edinburgh office employing about 1,300 people.

Earlier this week, Sky News revealed that Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive, would be part of the business delegation accompanying President Trump on the state visit.

Other bosses in attendance will include Jensen Huang of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable public company, and Sam Altman of ChatGPT architect OpenAI.

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that the two companies would launch a multibillion-pound investment in the UK next week that will form part of the vast $500bn Stargate data centre project.

The vast quantities being spent on artificial intelligence-related data centre infrastructure around the world represents one of the most important trends in the global economy, with the attendant strains on power resources also being throw into sharp focus.

The government hopes to announce early next week aggregate figures for investment and job creation that will rival the £63bn it claimed to have secured as a result of last October’s International Investment Summit, according to insiders.

Critically, at a difficult time for an economy which official data shows is flat lining, the string of major corporate announcements will be hailed by Sir Keir Starmer’s administration as evidence that Britain remains a top global destination for foreign investment.

The Office for Investment, which was recently given a beefed-up role in Whitehall, has been involved in coordinating many of the deals to be announced next week, which will encompass energy, financial services, nuclear power and technology, according to insiders.

Corporate and Whitehall sources said that BlackRock’s £500m data centre deal would reflect the efforts of the prime minister, his business adviser Varun Chandra and chancellor Rachel Reeves to strengthen the government’s relationship with the asset management behemoth during the last year.

Dozens of bosses will attend a state banquet at Windsor Castle hosted by King Charles III during next week’s trip.

President Trump’s visit will, however, come amid tensions over his tariff regime, with continuing uncertainty about the impact on British manufacturing sectors, including steel.

There are also continuing tensions between the UK government and major drugmakers over pricing, with the US administration pressuring pharmaceutical companies to slash the price of prescription medicines in the US.

BlackRock declined to comment.

The UK economy “continued to slow” and recorded zero growth in July, according to official figures showing a big drag from manufacturers.

The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) followed a figure of 0.4% growth the previous month and negative growth of 0.1% in May.

Output of 0.3% was achieved over the April-June quarter as a whole, slowing from the 0.7% recorded over the first three months of 2025.

Money latest: Reaction as economy slows

The latest figures signal concern for the months ahead as the labour market slows and the effects of elevated inflation and the US trade war dampen demand.

Commenting on July’s activity, ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said that declines in production offset meagre growth in services and construction.

“Growth in the economy as a whole continued to slow over the last three months”, she said.

“While services growth held up, production fell back further.

“Within services, health, computer programming and office support services all performed well, while the falls in production were driven by broad based weakness across manufacturing industries.”

The Labour government made growing the economy its priority when taking office last summer but the chancellor admitted this week that it had become “stuck”.

The US trade war has proved a drag on activity globally this year but Rachel Reeves has also been accused of applying the brakes herself by plundering the private sector for cash since taking office, harming investment and employment in the process.

Employers reacted to a £40bn budget tax raid by cutting jobs and passing on rising costs to customers.

Inflation is currently running at almost double the Bank of England‘s 2% target, harming the prospects for future interest rate cuts.

Bank data out last week suggested employers were cutting jobs at the fastest pace since 2021.

Attention is turning swiftly to the next budget, due on 26 November, and nerves over what measures are to come are hampering sentiment.

Ms Reeves is under pressure to raise more taxes to fill a black hole in the public finances estimated to be between £30-£40bn.

The chancellor has again ruled out raising income tax, employee national insurance contributions and VAT, which, she has always stated, would cause direct harm to “working people”.

Possible targets include the wealthy. Banks also fear a raid on their profits.

But the chief executive of the CBI business lobby group told The Guardian newspaper earlier this week that Ms Reeves should now break her promise not to target workers.

Rain Newton-Smith argued that new tax rises on businesses would amount to a further choke on growth and employment, harming working people indirectly in the process.

The CBI wants to see reforms to business rates and cuts to VAT thresholds, among other things, as the private sector shoulders its larger tax burden.

“The world is different from when Labour drafted its manifesto, and when the facts change so should the solutions,” Ms Newton-Smith added.

The chancellor has responded with plans to ease some barriers to business as part of efforts to improve growth.

The Treasury is considering an overhaul of small business rates relief rules to end a so-called “cliff edge” penalty facing firms opening a second premises.

The British Retail Consortium warned separately on Friday that 400 of the country’s largest stores could close if such premises fall into a proposed higher business rates band.

It argued that they were already under significant pressure from soaring employment and tax costs, which had accounted for the closure of 1,000 such spaces over the past five years.

Commenting on the ONS data, a spokesperson for the Treasury said: “We know there’s more to do to boost growth, because, whilst our economy isn’t broken, it does feel stuck.

“That’s the result of years of underinvestment, which we’re determined to reverse through our Plan for Change.

“We’re making progress: growth this year was the fastest in the G7; since the election, interest rates have been cut five times, and real wages have risen faster than they did under the last government.

“There’s more to do to build an economy that works for, and rewards, working people. That’s why we are cutting unnecessary red tape, transforming the planning system to get Britain building, and investing billions of pounds into affordable homes, Sizewell C, and local transport across the country.”

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride responded: “While the government lurch from one scandal to another, borrowing costs recently hit a 27-year high – a damning vote of no confidence in Labour that makes painful tax rises all but certain.

“It is little wonder that Starmer has stripped Reeves of control over the budget. But sidelining her is not enough – he must also reject her failed economic approach that has left Britain poorer.”