£1bn pay-out for Compass shareholders in UK

Shareholders in the world’s largest catering group Compass are to receive a £1bn (€1.5bn) pay-out following the sale of the company’s European vending business, it emerged today.

Compass sold its Selecta business to German private equity group Allianz Capital Partners for £772.5m (€1.1bn) and said that, following the deal, it would return £500m (€732m) of the proceeds to shareholders through a share buy-back programme over the next 12 to 18 months.