The men who made £140m by merging the AA and Saga

The vast amount will be shared between Permira and CVC Partners, who bought the motoring organisation in 2004, and Charterhouse, which funded a management buyout of the over-50s holiday and insurance company in 2005.

Bosses of the two companies will also make a fortune. Saga chief executive Andrew Goodsell, 48, who will run the combined business, will receive £104million, although 25 per cent of this will be reinvested.

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AA chief executive Tim Parker, a former Trotskyite and Labour member who now advises the Tory party, was reported to be in line to collect £80million, although the firm said later it would be "nearer £40million".

Mr Parker was brought in after Permira and CVC Partners bought the AA from Centrica. He cut 3,500 jobs, closed the organisation's service centres and farmed out nighttime emergency calls to contract garages, leading the unions to dub him "The Prince of Darkness".

The 51-year-old father of four has already collected huge windfalls after similar surgery at Kwik-Fit and Clark's shoes. He is now leaving the AA "to pursue other interests".

Among the private equity bosses who will benefit from the deal are Damon Buffini, the head of Permira, who was among financiers questioned by MPs on the Treasury Select Committee last week.

The £6.15billion merger values the AA at £3.35billion - a paper profit of £1.6billion since the 2004 takeover. Saga is valued at about £2.8billion - more than twice what Charterhouse paid for it.

News of the merger will fuel the controversy over the huge amounts being collected by private equity bosses, who often pay a lower rate of tax than their office cleaners. Their firms have made billions by buying and selling household names.

Critics accuse them of a slash-and-burn approach to business, cutting jobs and costs, shedding property and then selling the firm at a profit.

Most private equity purchases are financed by borrowing.

Interest charges are offset against tax, which means the firms pay little or nothing to the Treasury, which has ordered a review.

Even some leading financiers have admitted that the growing divide between rich and poor could have disastrous consequences. Sir Ronald Cohen, who founded private equity giant Apax and is a close ally of Gordon Brown, warned last week that there could be riots.

Paul Maloney, national officer of the GMB union, said last night that the huge amounts going to private equity as a result of the merger showed "the extent to which we have entered into a casino economy".

He said: "Tim Parker walks away with £80million for butchering the AA, and Permira and CVC pay off their debt and pocket £1.5billion.

"This money was made on the back of sacking 3,500 people, cutting wages and call centre staff and lengthening the working day.

"The service has been run down to boost profits. Patrolmen are working at full stretch and it would take just a few extreme winter days for it all to fall apart."

Saga, however, has flourished since Mr Goodsell led the management buy-out from its founders, the de Haan family.

Its turnover has jumped by 80 per cent since 2004.

Started in 1951 as a single hotel in Folkestone, it now has a database of 7.6million customers and more than 2,500 staff. Most of them will benefit from the merger, receiving an average of £8,000 cash and £2,500 of shares in the new company.

The merged company will have 11,000 employees and 20million customers. Permira and CVC will own 42.5 per cent of it while Charterhouse will hold 37.5per cent. Management and staff of both businesses will own the remaining 20 per cent.

Mr Goodsell, who will run the organisation from Saga's base in Folkestone, said: "We have taken a really close look and concluded that there are significant advantages in combining Saga and the AA's experience, expertise, systems and negotiating power, while maintaining their separate and very distinct brands."

He dismissed union warnings that more jobs would be lost, saying: "I'm about growing this business."