AA and Saga owner ponders £9bn break-up

A break-up of Acromas, the £9bn owner of the AA and Saga, is on the cards after the company brought in accountants to weigh up its future.

A split would end a five-year marriage between the motoring organisation and over-50s travel and insurance firm, formed by a £6.1bn merger at the height of the credit boom in 2007. Acromas employs 38,000 people.

Spinning off the AA, valued at £5bn, would allow its trio of private equity backers to register profits on the deal, as well as refinance some of the group's debt.

Insiders said Acromas had hired Ernst & Young to explore options. for the firm, which serves more than 18 million consumers, although an Acromas spokesman said talk of a sale was "speculation". He said: "There are no current plans to either sell part of or float the business."