SCOTTISH Equity Partners (SEP) has refused to deny speculation that it is preparing to offload 10 per cent of its stake in Skyscanner, the Edinburgh-based travel search engine.

SEP, which has held a significant stake in Skyscanner since investing £2.5 million in the company in 2008, has reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to reduce its stake.

Edinburgh fund manager Baillie Gifford, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, and Japanese global technology investor were touted as potential bidders.

The sale would value Skyscanner at £1 billion if the desired price is met, conferring so-called “unicorn” status on the technology company, a report suggested. It is also likely to result in a healthy return for SEP, currently the biggest individual shareholder in Skyscanner with a significant stake.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh-based SEP, which has invested in a series of information technology companies, said the venture capital firm had no comment to make on the speculation. It also declined to comment when asked about the accuracy of the newspaper speculation.

Skyscanner, founded by Gareth Williams, Bonamy Grimes and Barry Smith in 2003, has diversified from its core travel search facilities into hotel and car hire. It acquired Spanish-based hotel search specialist Fogg in 2013. That came shortly before Sequoia Capital, a California-based venture capital fund which has backed Apple and Google, acquired a stake in the business. The deal put £190m value on the founders’ stake and gave Skyscanner a market worth of almost £500m.

Skyscanner could not be reached for a response, while Baillie Gifford said it was unable to comment.