THE owner of the AA and Saga is refinancing £3 billion of debt in a move which could clear the way for a break-up of the group.

Private-equity-owned Acromas Holdings said it is issuing bonds to pay down bank loans, taking advantage of benign conditions in bond markets.

That could allow the group to sell off assets such as roadside recovery chain the AA, leaving over-50s holiday firm Saga to float on the stock market, reports said.

Saga and the AA were combined in a £6.2bn deal at the height of the credit boom in 2007 to form Acromas. The business was funded by £4.8bn of bank debt.

The first tranche of its debt is due to expire in September 2015 and the refinancing will allow it to take advantage of cheaper bond rates by replacing high-interest loans with longer-term debt.