Brokers in rush to float

Hyperion Insurance Group is to float on the London Stock Exchange, the Sunday Telegraph reports, and Cooper Gay has appointed UBS to prepare it for an initial public offering (IPO).

Hyperion and Cooper Gay will raise up to £500m between them. Hyperion appointed John van Kuffeler as chairman in February to oversee the process.

Chief executive David Howden, who owns 17% said the company had spoken to advisers and viewed a flotation as an important part of its strategy.

"Our desire is to maintain our independence and we need further capital to achieve that," he said. "A flotation is very much in our plans, we are putting the building blocks in place, reorganising parts of the business and improving our corporate structure."

Cooper Gay comes first

Bankers say an IPO could raise between £150m and £200m, but is unlikely to come as soon as Cooper Gay's, which could raise up to £250m from a flotation and provide a healthy payout to 160 of its senior employees who own 70pc of the company.

Cooper Gay chief executive Toby Esser said: "We have been moving towards an IPO for a number of years now. However, we will wait for the right time though, which wasn't this year as there was too much volatility in the markets.