THE starting gun will be fired this week on a slew of stock market listings as Travelport, the airline and hotel reservations company, announces plans for a £1.8 billion flotation in London.
As part of going public, the company has recruited Dermot Gleeson, the former chairman of Allied Irish Banks and Irish attorney-general, to become its non-executive chairman.
Travelport aims to raise £1.2 billion through the sale of new shares to pay down debts taken on by Blackstone, its private equity owner. The group's progress will be keenly watched by a string of companies, most of them private equity backed, which are hoping to list in the next few months.
They include Merlin Entertainments, the owner of tourist attractions such as Madame Tussauds and Legoland, th electronic whiteboards maker Promethean, and fashion retailer New Look.
If it is successful, Travelport is hoping for a market valuation of almost £2 billion. That would make it the biggest stock-market debut since Fresnillo, the Mexican silver miner, which floated in May 2008.
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The float is being handled by investment banks UBS, Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.
Travelport runs the Galileo booking system for travel agents, airlines and hotels. In its most recent quarter, it reported earnings of $93m (£57m) on sales of $570m.
Blackstone led a buyout of Travelport from the American conglomerate Cendant in 2006 for $4.3 billion and quickly merged it with Worldspan, a rival, to expand its reach in America. Orbitz, the group's online travel arm, was spun out a year later.
Fellow shareholders in Travelport include Technology Crossover Ventures, One Equity Partners and the company's management.
If Travelport achieves its forecast valuation, the management would be sitting on a paper fortune of £50m-£100m.