Loveholidays has denied its major shareholder is planning to sell the business for around £900m, which was reported by Sky News.

The new outlet said it had heard from ‘city sources’ that private equity firm Livingbridge, which owns a large chunk of the online travel agent, was looking to auction it off in the first half of 2024.

Sky News said its sources had indicated that plans for a refinancing ‘were now evolving into a sale’ as early as the second quarter of next year.

One insider told the publication that, based on current earnings of around £65m, loveholidays would fetch about £900m.

Livingbridge declined to comment to Sky News on the claims.

However, a spokesperon for loveholidays told Travel Gossip a sale was not on the cards.

In a statement, they said: “We’re working with Evercore [investment bank] to refinance to support our extraordinary growth and strategic development.

“A sale process is not on the horizon, and our focus remains on delivering for our customers, investing for growth and becoming Europe’s number one package holiday provider.”

Earlier this year, loveholidays expanded into Germany, where it is branded weloveholidays.