Saga is flying the nest of private equity after Acromas, the company which floated it on the London Stock Exchange, sold its remaining share in the business.

Earlier this week, the over-50s holiday and insurance firm revealed annual pre-tax profits grew by 55% to £176.2 million, marking a turnaround after initially struggling on the markets.

The Folkestone-based firm, which employs nearly 4,500 people, of which 3,000 work in Kent, floated in May 2014 at the bottom end of its initial valuation of 185p per share.

That valued the company at £2.1 billion, having said earlier its shares could be valued at as much as 245p.

Owner Acromas had been expected to sell a proportion of its 72% shareholding but the company only opted to sell about £550m of new shares.

Since then, its share price has risen to about 207p, and last night, Acromas sold its final 32% stake in the company at 195p per share.

It is understood Saga employees have benefitted from the sale, with their stake in Acromas due to pay out.

Andrew Goodsell, the firm’s non-executive chairman, immediately bought £5 million of shares.

Acromas was set up in 2007 by private equity firms Charterhouse, CVC and Permira as they merged their ownership of Saga and the AA. The breakdown business also floated in 2014.

Numis acted on behalf of Acromas in the sale, with shares being sold to institutional investors.