£2bn float for fast food giant SSP

Investment bankers say a possible alternative to a listing would be for SSP to merge with a big European rival such as Italy's Autogrill. However, EQT this weekend denied that any conversations about a sale or tie-up with a rival have been held.

During a decade at the helm of WH Smith, Swann oversaw an impressive turnaround of one of Britain's biggest high street retailers, transforming it from a loss-making company into one generating more than £100m of annual profits. She left with a £13m payout.

The City has been swamped by scores of companies going public this year buoyed by strong markets and the quickening economic recovery. Retailers Poundland, and Pets at Home, Zoopla, the property website, and Just Eat, the online takeaway service, are just a few that have joined the market.

However, several flotations, such as Card Factory, the discount card chain, and Saga, the over-50 insurance and holiday group, have flopped, despite pricing shares at the bottom of the range, leaving investors bitterly disappointed.

Confidence was given a much-needed boost last week with the £2.7bn listing of B&M Bargains, with shares in the retailer leaping as much as 6pc in conditional trading. The float crystallised a second £1bn payday in less than two years for the three brothers that own the Blackpool-based company.

Despite recent jitters, a raft of other big names are pushing ahead with float plans. TSB, the high street bank spun out of Lloyds, is expected to price its float in the middle of its £1.1-1.4bn range later this week, while RAC, the roadside assistance provider, Aldermore, the SME bank, and DFS, the sofa chain, are due after the summer.

SSP was founded 60 years ago. EQT bought the fast-food group in 2006 when it was offloaded by Compass in a £1.3bn deal.

During 2013, SSP opened 90 outlets at sites ranging from Manchester airport to JFK airport in New York and Gare de Lyon station in Paris.

The company beefed up its board earlier this year with the appointment of a trio of City heavyweights to its board. John Barton, the chairman of easyJet, Next and insurance underwriter Catlin, became head of SSP's remuneration committee. Ian Dyson, the former chief executive of Punch Taverns and finance director of Marks & Spencer, will head the audit committee, and Denis Hennequin, the former boss of Accor, the French hotel giant, was also brought in as a non-executive director.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are handling the share sale and Lazard is advising the company and EQT.

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