Speculation is rife within the travel industry that Manchester-based travel organisation Traveljigsaw may be preparing itself for a takeover. The agency was originally set up by David Crossland who agreed to financially back a group of former Airtours employees who wanted to start out on their own. Traveljigsaw now has an annual turnover of over £100 million and employs 120 staff.

Analysts have valued the company at around £150 million and KPMG is rumoured to be undertaking an assessment of the business. Originally set up under the banner of Car Hire 3000, Traveljigsaw now provides customers with access to car rental firms in 27 countries around the world.

Traveljigsaw has become one of the largest independent vehicle rental agencies in Europe and runs a multi-lingual call centre out of the UK.

ISIS, the private equity firm, managed a £25 million management buyout in order to facilitate the sale of the business. This year the company has managed to secure multi-million pound funding deals to allow it to expand by providing the company with much needed working capital.

ISIS have refused to be drawn into discussions on the future of Traveljigsaw, but sources within the travel industry say that a takeover would be a very attractive proposition to a number of firms. However, a deal is unlikely to be struck until later in the year and possibly not until 2011.