British Gas owner sells AA

Energy group Centrica today agreed the sale of the AA motoring organisation to a private equity consortium for £1.75bn (€2.62bn).

The British Gas owner will offload the breakdown and financial services operation to a company formed by CVC Capital Partners and Permira.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay investors a special dividend of £1bn (€1.5bn) and start a share buyback programme over the next 12 months.

The sale price is higher than the £1.5bn (€2.24bn) expected by analysts.