Skipton sells majority stake in Callcredit
Skipton Building Society has sold its majority stake in credit reference and marketing services subsidiary Callcredit Information Group (CIG) to private equity firm Vitruvian Partners for an undisclosed amount. The deal generates around £40 million of additional profit for the building society.Skipton group chief executive David Cutter said: "CIG has been a major success story for Skipton of which we are very proud. Our support and guidance has enabled the business to penetrate the credit referencing and marketing information markets and, in doing so, to become a serious rival to the major players, from which it continues to take market share.
"Following a strategic review, Skipton decided CIG was no longer core to our future business direction. At the same time, CIG has huge further potential and is now ready to enter the next stage of its development as an independent business with ambitious aspirations. Therefore we concluded that this is the appropriate time for CIG to move on and for its next growth phase to be supported by private equity, rather than ourselves as a member-owned building society.
“We’re delighted to have achieved such a positive outcome for CIG’s staff, and for Skipton, and this substantial boost to our profitability and financial strength will provide a real shot in the arm for our own future business ambitions.”
CIG was established in 2000 and now has over 600 employees and annual turnover of around £50 million. Last year it recorded profits of £5 million.
John McAndrew, chief executive of CIG, added: "We are extremely grateful for the help and support of Skipton over the past nine years. We have a reputation for differentiating ourselves through innovation and delivering outstanding value and service. To do this, we have been investing in people, technology and new products. We now have plans to explore new markets and geographies and are very optimistic that this change of ownership will provide us with the impetus to achieve our goals."