Foxtons mulls float on stock exchange as backer looks to cash in

Foxtons is considering a float on the stock market, six years after its ill-timed acquisition by a US private equity firm. The flotation could value the firm by £780m.

The speculation, prompted by a report in the Financial Times, comes in the same week that Countrywide went back on the stock market six years after it, too, was bought by US private equity money.

Countrywide’s float on Wednesday saw brisk trading in shares which valued the company at well above expectations at around £848.5m.

Countrywide’s listing was on Budget day, when shares in several property firms, including LSL, soared on news of the Government’s package of aid for the housing market.

Foxtons had pondered a float on the stock market in 2006, but a sale proved a better option and BC Partners bought Foxtons, together with its mortgage arm Alexander Hall, in 2007 from founder Jon Hunt for £375m. It later confessed it regretted the deal as markets plunged, and lost control of the business three years later in a debt restructuring to banks. But it has since regained its hold and Foxtons has prospered with its dominance of the soaring London market.

It is understood the company no longer has any debt and that BC Partners is looking to almost double its equity investment.

Foxtons made £35.4m profits in 2010 and 2011, and has 40 branches, with five new openings announced.