Spread betting market buzz: Cantillon Capital has taken a 5.01% stake worth £80 million in IG, the firm founded by former Tory donor Stuart Wheeler. The talk of the spread betting industry over the course of the past 24 hours has centred around the news that the UKs largest spread betting company has a new major investor. Yesterday it was reported that Cantillon Capital, an investment vehicle for William von Mueffling has taken a 5% stake in the company. Von Mueffling made his name as a top stockpicker among fund managers at Lazards, running its highly successful European Opportunities Fund. He made Lazard investors millions predicting the end of the dotcom boom at the turn of the millennium.So to hear that he has invested in IG Group is a big positive. Shares in IG Group were 0.64% higher in afternoon trade on the FTSE. The IG Group stake building comes at an interesting time for the spread betting industry.Although it has been a City success story, growing from scratch into an increasingly well-respected player, some analysts fear it has peaked.Many firms seem to be struggling to attract new clients, and even some of the top customers are betting less in the wake of the economic downturn.IG’s chief executive Tim Howkins has a driving ambition to push the company into the FTSE 100.Today the shares slipped 3.9p to 442.1p. That leaves the company valued at £1.6 billion, some way short of meeting Howkins’ goal.

 

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