Cruise.co is currently owned by Risk Capital Partners, which is in “detailed talks” about a potential £50 million sale to another private equity firm Bridgepoint Development Capital, according to Sky News. Neither firm has commented on the speculation.

Bridgepoint previously owned France-based luxury cruise line Ponant, which it sold to Artemis in July 2015.

Cruise.co has been up for sale for several months and other potential bidders are reported to include TripAdvisor and Inflexion Private Equity.

Risk Capital, which was founded by former PizzaExpress and Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson, purchased Cruise.co three years ago in a deal valuing the company at up to £20 million.

The team at Cruise.co is led by chairman Andrew Gardener and managing director Seamus Conlon.

The UK trading division www.cruise.co.uk Ltd made an operating profit of £3.2 million in its most recent financial year to the end of November 2015 – up from a profit of £2.5 million in the previous year, as turnover rose by 20.3% to £36.2 million.