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(Reuters) - Premium Credit Ltd, a UK-based insurance company that provides financing, has been put up for sale by its owner, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The firm, which is owned by Chicago-based private-equity firm GTCR LLC, could be valued at more than $800 million (501.15 million pounds) including debt and is likely to attract other private-equity firms, the sources told WSJ.
Premium Credit has 2 million customers and achieved advances of 3.7 billion pounds in 2013, according to the company's website.
It was bought by GTCR in 2012 from MBNA Europe, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp (N:BAC). The company at that time had total asset value of 900 million pounds.
The acquisition was supported by a consortium of banking institutions which included Barclays Capital (L:BARC), Lloyds Banking Group (L:LLOY), Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBKGn), HSBC Holdings Plc (L:HSBA) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN). The group had committed to provide long-term financing facility to aid Premium Credit's funding obligations and future growth.
Representatives at GTCR and Premium Credit were immediately not available for comment.
(Reporting by Shivam Srivastava in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr)