LONDON Feb 20 (Reuters) – Countrywide Holdings, Britain’s largest estate agency group by revenue, said that it plans to return to the London Stock Exchange after nearly six years in private hands.
The company is seeking to raise 200 million pounds ($ 309 million) through the float, which it said it would use to repay debts and then pursue a strategy of organic and acquisition-based growth.
Countrywide, which sells and rents residential properties, was listed between 1986 and 2007, when it was taken private at the peak of the market.
“Over the past six years we have transformed Countrywide into the UK’s largest integrated property services group,” said CEO Grenvill Turner in a statement on Wednesday.
“We have worked hard to secure significant growth opportunities via acquisitions and by opening new high street branches.”
Just last week, British housebuilder Crest Nicholson returned to the stockmarket with a successful listing that valued it at 553 million pounds.
A return to the markets for Countrywide would likely lead to inclusion on the FTSE 250 index, the company said. In its 2012 results, also announced on Wednesday, it reported earnings of 63 million pounds on revenues of 540 million.
Goldman Sachs, Jefferies International Ltd and Credit Suisse will be bookrunners for the listing.
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UPDATE 1-UK estate agent Countrywide plans return to main list
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