When Saga and the AA merged this summer in a £6.2bn deal orchestrated by their three private equity owners, creating a travel, insurance and motor breakdown services group, the public announcement included almost no financial details.

Charterhouse, CVC and Permira must now be regretting their decision to wait until five days after the deal before revealing that they made a combined £2.4bn profit from the Saga/AA merger and paid themselves a £2bn dividend.