KKR leads £1.7bn race for Argos store-card owner NewDay

The private equity firm at the centre of a string of bidding wars for British companies is leading the £1.7bn race to buy the owner of Argos's store-card operations.

Sky News has learnt that KKR is the frontrunner to buy NewDay Group, which is owned by the buyout firms Cinven and CVC Capital Partners. KKR is not in exclusive talks, and other parties - said to include Pimco, the asset management giant, KKR, and a Bain Capital-led consortium - remain in contention to acquire NewDay.

Some of the bidders, such as Pimco, have been interested in pursuing a deal to buy NewDay's consumer loan book rather than the company as a whole; others including KKR are understood to be interested in acquiring the whole business, but potentially with its existing shareholders remaining invested for a period of time. NewDay, which took ownership of Argos's store card business last year in a £720m deal with J Sainsbury, the supermarket giant, has been exploring a sale or stock market listing for months.

Last November, Sky News reported that NewDay's owners were lining up investment bankers at Barclays to advise on a process. NewDay is one of Britain's biggest privately held providers of consumer credit services, with about four million customers.

Last year, it reported £213m of underlying pre-tax profit, with new customer acquisitions up 36%. It also launched a technology and lending partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, and launched the pilot of a technology partnership with Debenhams Group in the final quarter of last year.

KKR has become engaged in bidding wars in recent months for Assura, the GP surgeries landlord, and testing equipment provider Spectris - both of which are listed on the London stock market. NewDay, KKR and CVC declined to comment..