The owner of Young’s Seafood is lining up bankers to help it land the prize catch of a London stock market listing next year.
Sky News understands that Eight Fifty Food Group, which owns Young’s and the giant pork processing business Karro, is close to appointing JP Morgan and Jefferies to work on an initial public offering.
A formal decision to proceed with a flotation has yet to be made, but if it goes ahead, it would not take place until next year.
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Eight Fifty takes its name from the fact that there are roughly 850 acres in a nautical square mile and denotes “the unity of land and sea”, according to the company.
Owned by the private equity firm CapVest, it has annual sales of approximately £1.4bn and employs more than 7,500 people across 19 sites in the UK and Ireland.
It is unclear whether CapVest might also seek to gauge the interest of potential buyers of the company, alongside the preparations for a stock market listing.
The buyout firm owns a number of other food assets, including brands such as Rowse Honey, which is part of CapVest’s Valeo business.
When asked about the possibility of an IPO this month, an Eight Fifty Food Group spokesperson declined to comment, but said: “As a major food group made up of Karro Food Limited and Young’s Seafood we continue to focus on providing great food to customers across pork and seafood.
“We are excited about the ongoing opportunity to create an ambitious multi-protein food business of considerable scale with a combined platform in two important protein categories that are experiencing consistent long-term growth.”
CapVest declined to comment.