Callcredit Information Group, one of Britain's fastest-growing credit-checking companies, is plotting a £400m sale that will reap a handsome return for its private equity backers. Vitruvian Partners, a buyout firm, has appointed advisers to oversee an auction of Callcredit, which it has owned since 2009. Callcredit, which has been dubbed a "mini-Experian" because of its resemblance to the FTSE-100 credit referencing giant, employs around 800 people at sites across the UK. It competes with Experian and Equifax in the credit referencing market, which is worth billions of pounds a year. Previously part of Skipton Building Society, Callcredit has seen sales and profits grow rapidly since the business changed hands, with the business buoyed by growing demand for greater volumes of consumer credit data. Earlier this month, Callcredit issued a statement in which it urged the Government to make greater use of technology in a bid to reduce the multibillion pound bill for benefit fraud which taxpayers have to foot each year. Jefferies, the investment bank, is understood to have been appointed to handle the sale. Other private equity groups as well as financial services providers are expected to be interested in a deal.....Read more here