Sir George Mathewson, a former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, was thought to have collected about £3 million yesterday when Wood Mackenzie, the British energy and research consultancy that he chairs, was sold for £553 million.

Sir George, who joined Wood Mackenzie as non-executive chairman in October 2007, is one of about 100 of the company's staff who are sharing a total payout of about £100 million as a result of the deal.

Stephen Halliday, formerly head of the group's energy division and now its chief executive, is also expected to receive about £3million, as is Paul Gregory, the man he succeeded in the top job, who is now a non-executive director. Most of the directors are expected to reinvest about half of their post-tax windfalls into the company. Wood Mackenzie declined to comment on individual payouts.

Wood Mackenzie was bought by Charterhouse Capital, the private equity firm, in a leveraged buyout, which is being largely funded with debt arranged by HSBC, HBOS and Nomura. Charterhouse, which was advised by HSBC, fought off competition from other private equity firms, such as Bain Capital, Warburg Pincus and Hellman & Friedman, as well as rivals to Wood Mackenzie. It is thought to be planning to develop Wood Mackenzie - which traces its roots back to 1840, when it began life as a stockbroker - through smaller, bolt-on acquisitions.

The private equity owner will also try to develop the group geographically, boosting its presence, for example, in the Middle East, and by expanding its range of consultancy services, entering new areas, such as petroleum engineering.

Wood Mackenzie, which moved into energy research in 1973, has grown significantly in recent years amid increasing demand for data on oil and gas. Last year, its sales increased by 21 per cent to £97 million.

The sale brings Candover, the private equity company that is Wood Mackenzie's majority shareholder, much-needed funds. Candover's shares rose by 29.0p, or 10.78 per cent, to 298p yesterday after news of the deal. Its net asset value declined by more than 50 per cent in 2008, as it wrote off the value of several of its biggest investments, including Gala Coral, Britain's biggest bingo and gaming group, and Ferretti, the Italian maker of luxury yachts. Over the same period Candover's realisations - the amount of cash brought in from the sale of its investments - slumped to less than a quarter of the previous year's level.

Candover has taken such a hit from the credit crunch that it froze new investments on its latest fund, reduced its management fees and put itself up for sale.

Iain Scouller, an Oriel Securities analyst, said that the deal had eased the pressure on Candover to sell itself.

“We think the improvement in the balance sheet means it is less likely that the board and shareholders will accept a ‘low-ball' bid for the company. Instead, we think it more likely that Candover will aim to realise investments and return some capital to shareholders,” Mr Scouller said.

Candover declined to comment further on any possible sale of the company yesterday. At its annual shareholders meeting in May, Candover reiterated that it had received several approaches for the business from potential suitors. “As part of the strategic review, several expressions of interest covering a number of options have been received,” it said then. “These range from proposals to acquire the company for either cash or a mixture of cash and shares, through to proposals for third parties to acquire a minority stake in the company.”

The situation is not thought to have changed since that statement.

Candover was advised on the Wood Mackenzie sale by Goldman Sachs.

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