Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have picked up the lead advisory roles as UK insurance group Esure sets out plans to demerge its price comparison website GoCompare via a listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The company said on Tuesday (13 September) that it planned to list GoCompare, based in Newport in Wales, separately so that both businesses could focus on their own operations.

Slaughters is advising both companies on the split and the planned listing with a London-based team led by corporate partner John Papanichola, alongside finance partner Oliver Storey and financial regulation partner Nick Bonsall.

Freshfields is advising Deutsche Bank, which is underwriting the float, with a team led by City corporate partner Mark Austin.

GoCompare was founded by Hayley Parsons (pictured above, right) and is famous for adverts featuring a fictional Italian tenor named Gio Compario, played by Welsh tenor Wynne Evans (pictured above, left).

The deal, which will give GoCompare a £75m debt facility and unlock a £63m dividend for Esure, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of this year.

The split comes less than two years after Esure took full control of GoCompare. After the demerger, Esure will be left with its core car insurance business.

Slaughters previously advised Esure on its London listing in 2013, which raised about £198m. Its team on that deal was also led by Papanichola, alongside fellow City corporate partner Jonathan Marks.

Ashurst advised the banks on Esure's listing with a team led by London corporate partner Nick Bryans and former City corporate partner Ray Fisher, who joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York this month to work for the supervisory policy team.