Holiday hitch-up: Saga to buy cut-price Titan Travel

Saga, the over-50s holiday company backed by private equity, is set to buy one of Britain's biggest travel agents, Titan Travel, in a deal that could be agreed as early as this week.

It's believed that Saga is likely to fend off rival interest for Titan, which was put up for sale earlier in the year.

McInnes, the corporate finance arm of insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, is handling the sale after being appointed to review the travel company by a number of creditor institutions.

Saga, which is owned by the private equity firms Permira, Charterhouse and CVC, is expected to pay between £15-20m for Titan.

According to Titan's latest filings at Companies House the firm posted a turnover of more than £131m for the year to the end of September 2007. However, the firm posted a meagre profit on sales of just £211,144 over the year. The company, which is led by managing director Martin Coe, sells a broad range of holidays including trips to the US and China.

The group also owns a large fleet of minibuses which enables it to ferry its customers between their homes and airports at both end of their holidays.

Last year Titan struck a deal to sell holidays through the National Geographic chain at its flagship store in London's Regent Street.