By Esha Vaish
(Reuters) - Hunters, the UK's sixth-largest estate agent, could be valued at between 15 million pounds and 20 million pounds ($24 million-$32 million) when it lists later this year, its finance director said.
The company, which provides lettings and sales services through a franchised network, has appointed Numis as financial adviser as it looks to float on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Hunters Finance Director Ed Jones told Reuters.
"We quite like the IPO route, because it allows us much more access to the capital that we want and raises our profile ... and given that we're a consumer brand, being on the stock market is fantastic," Jones said.
A number of British real estate agents, including easyProperty and Purplebricks, are looking to go public to tap into strong equity markets, healthy letting demand and a sharp rise in home prices over the past two years.
The Conservative Party's unexpectedly decisive victory in general election in May has also helped investor sentiment, with pent-up demand rushing back over the rest of this year and into the next.
Hunters was founded in 1992 by Kevin Hollinrake and John Waterhouse. Hollinrake, formerly managing director, was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Thirsk and Malton at the election.
The company had said in February that it intended to raise up to 2.5 million pounds via a private, pre-IPO placement of shares to investors, including staff and partners to help it expand to over 500 offices in five years. (http://bit.ly/1GD34IY)
"We've got hugely ambitious expansion plans and one of the reasons we want to go the market is because of the access to the capital to deliver on those," Jones said.
Hunters currently operates from 160 offices nationwide, including in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Middlesbrough and Liverpool, and expects 25-30 percent of its growth over the next few years to come from acquisitions.
Jones said Hunters would be buyers as he saw an enormous opportunity for consolidation in the sector. There are about 25,000 estate agents operating in the UK and none had more than a 2.5 percent market share, he noted.
The company, which had turnover of about 9 million pounds in 2014, last month added 23 franchised branches to its network by acquiring Country Properties.
($1 = 0.6358 pounds)