Skipton Building Society – the UK’s fourth largest building society – has announced the sale of its majority stake in credit reference and marketing services subsidiary, Callcredit Information Group (CIG).

London-based private equity firm, Vitruvian Partners, has bought Skipton’s share for an undisclosed sum with the full support of CIG’s management team.

The sale follows a partnership spanning almost a decade which has seen Skipton working with CIG management to establish and develop the business to become a major supplier of credit and marketing information. CIG will continue to pursue its strategic direction under its current leadership.

Caroline Worboys, managing director of Callcredit Information Group Marketing Solutions, said: “We are very proud of the achievements the business has made under Skipton and within the Callcredit Information Group, and I am confident that we can continue to build on this success, ultimately becoming the UK’s leading provider of information within the marketing and credit risk environment.

“Marketing Solutions will have a fundamental role to play in the growth plans of the group and I personally am looking forward to next phase of our development. Marketing Solutions has aggressively grown over the last two years and is an extremely fluid and adaptable business which sets us in good stead to continue business as usual and focus on growth and exemplary service provision for our clients.”

Skipton Group chief executive, David Cutter, said: “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 more than 600 employees and annual turnover of around £50m. Last year it recorded profits of £5m.

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.

“We’re delighted that Vitruvian Partners emerged as the buyer following a competitive sale process because they are committed to supporting our existing business strategy as well as our vision of growth through both organic development and acquisition.”

David Namaha, who is a founding partner at Vitruvian, added: “We are delighted to be working with John and his team at this very exciting stage of their development. CIG sits right in our sweet spot as an entrepreneurial organisation, deploying smart technology and with a strong, customer-centric management team and great strategic opportunities ahead of it.”