Yell set to launch £2bn float plans

NEWS Yell will reveal plans for a £2bn stock market flotation this week, according to reports in the weekend papers. The yellow pages directory business was sold by BT in 2001 to private equity owners Apax and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for around £2.1bn. Although an earlier float, valued at around £2.3bn, was pulled last year because of the poor state of the market the current anticipated valuation of £2bn would still see Yell enter the FTSE 100 leading blue chip shares index. The company's current figures show it has £1.7bn of debt and £700m of investment by its private equity owners. It is expected that some of the money from the float will go to reducing that debt. Yell declined to comment on the speculation but reports indicate a decision is likely to be taken over the next few days.