WELL placed sources have played down reports Scottish Equity Partners is poised to cash in part of its shareholding in Skyscanner in a move which would have been likely to net it a multi-million pound windfall.

The venture capital firm was an early backer of the Edinburgh based travel search engine business, investing around £2.5 million in 2007.

It was suggested SEP was considering selling as much as five per cent of its near 40 per cent holding in the company. But a senior source said this was not likely.

Any SEP sale was expected to form part of a fundraising bid by Skyscanner which is understood to be looking to boost its coffers by around £65m to help accelerate its expansion plans.

Last monthSkyscanner, formed in 2003 by a group of friends including existing chief executive Gareth Williams, announced it was opening new bases in London and the Bulgarian capital of Sofia as well as a larger site in Budapest, Hungary.

It already employs around 700 around the world with 450 working across offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It also has premises in Barcelona, Beijing, Miami, Shenzhen and Singapore.

Any fundraising would be likely to value the whole business at more than $1 billion (£650m).

That would suggest SEP would have been in line to get somewhere in the region of $20m (£13m) if it sold a five per cent of its stake.

Goldman Sachs and Numis Securities were reported to be working with Skyscanner, which had revenue of £93m in its most recent financial year, on the sale of new shares.

Two years ago technology investor Sequoia Capital, which has backed companies including Apple and Google in the past, bought a minority stake in Skyscanner with the company valued at around $800m at that point.

Skyscanner and SEP did not wish to make any comment.