Two major buyout firms are vying to buy Premium Credit, which enables consumers to spread the cost of insurance premiums and school fees, Sky News understands.

The specialist finance provider Premium Credit is at the centre of a private equity bidding war led by the firm which owns a stake in the Six Nations Rugby championship.

Sky News understands that prolific sports investor CVC Capital Partners and Towerbrook are two of the leading contenders to buy Premium Credit for more than £600m ($790.81m).

Cinven bought the company in 2015 for about £460m, and has been in talks with prospective buyers for several weeks.

It was unclear on Monday whether other bidders were in the frame, although Wafra, a US-based financial services group which owns a minority stake in Towerbrook, had also been named as a prospective buyer by industry sources.

Source: Sky News