OnTheMarket, an online property listings portal, is set to float on AIM in an attempt to raise £50m to boost its expansion and restructure the business.
Launched in 2015, OnTheMarket is competing against the likes of Zoopla, which listed in 2014, and Rightmove, which went public in 2006.
According to Sky News, the firm is currently owned by a consortium of its members which include well-known firms from the property industry such as Savills, Chestertons and Knight Frank.
All existing shareholders will need to vote in favour of the demutualisation plan – the process whereby a mutual or co-operative association is changed into a public company by converting the interests of its members into shareholdings.
The news comes after OnTheMarket won a year-long battle over competition with online rivals.
The firm requires estate agents which list on its website to pick between advertising on either Rightmove or Zoopla, but not both.
This rule was questioned by Gascoigne Halman, a Cheshire-based agent, which was eventually sued for breach of contract and took the case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, with the argument that OnTheMarket’s rule was anti-competitive.
The tribunal found last month that OTM’s “rule did not form part of a wider concerted practice to ‘boycott’” its rivals.