Arqiva: Broadcast and mobile mast company to launch biggest UK stock market listing of 2017

The listing is expected to value the company – which is currently owned by private equity – at about £6bn including the debt it has on its balance sheet

The market for initial public offerings has heated up in recent weeks (Getty)

Mobile mast company Arqiva, famous for carrying the BBC’s first ever television broadcast, is aiming to raise up to £1.5bn in what is slated to be the UK’s largest stock market listing so far in 2017.

The listing is expected to value the company – which is currently owned by private equity firms – at about £6bn including the debt it has on its balance sheet.

Its owners had reportedly been considering a sale of the company, but the market for initial public offerings (IPOs) has heated up in recent weeks, sweetening the prospect of a listing on the stock market.

According to Reuters, the IPO, which will be run and coordinated by Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JPMorgan, is set to be the largest so far this year in terms of proceeds.

Arqiva employs more than 2,000 people and reported revenues of just over £940m for the most recent financial year, to the end of June.

It currently has around 8,000 active licensed sites across the country and is the only national provider of terrestrial television and radio broadcasting. It is also credited with launching national DAB radio and digital terrestrial television networks in the 2000s.

Additional reporting by news wires