Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is poised to pocket around £15 million from selling an education business he set up before becoming an MP, according to Sky News.
The broadcaster reports it is likely to be announced listings service Hotcourses is to be sold for between £30 million and £35 million this week.
It says documents filed to Companies House show Hunt owns around 48% of the business he helped set up with Mike Elms in 1996, and the latest register of MPs’ interests says only that he holds more than 15% of the business.
Sky New reports a sale - which it said was being signed on Sunday night - has been lined up with an Australasian company with operations in the education sector.
The deal comes amid an ongoing winter ‘crisis’ in the NHS with hospitals facing a shortage of beds and the Red Cross being called in to assist over-crowded emergency departments.
Two years ago, it was reported Hunt enjoyed a £960,000 windfall from dividends paid out from the company.
It claims to have the world’s largest database of courses - from starting a business and baking to learning a foreign language and university courses - and has offices around the world.
In 2014, private equity group Inflexion was reported to have been interested in buying Hotcourses, which would have netted Hunt £17million, but the deal fell through.