The owner of the Comparethemarket price comparison platform is exploring a £700m sale of the insurance arm which distributes policies for partners including Marks & Spencer and the RAC.

Sky News has learnt that BGL Group has appointed bankers from Fenchurch Advisory Partners to handle a review of strategic options for BGL Insurance.

City sources said on Tuesday that the review had been triggered by a number of inbound approaches from potential acquirers of the business.

BGL Insurance acts as the retail personal lines platform to some of Britain’s biggest brands, including the Co-op Group and Lloyds Banking Group’s home insurance products.

It also operates wholly owned brands including Beagle Street, Budget Insurance and Dial Direct.

In total, the business has approximately three million customers across its affinity and own-brand products.

The bulk of BGL’s profit is made by CompareTheMarket, which has become one of Britain’s biggest price comparison sites.

BGL Group is part-owned by CPPIB, which ranks among Canada’s largest pension funds.

The company had previously internally separated its price comparison and insurance operations, making a sale easier to implement, according to one insider.

A BGL spokeswoman confirmed that the company had received approaches about a sale of the insurance arm, but declined to comment further.

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