Yell aims for $1.1 billion float

LONDON (CNN) -- Yell, Britain's biggest phone directory publisher, plans to raise £750 million ($1.1 billion) from a summer flotation.

The company, which publishes Yellow Book in the United States, said the money raised would be used to repay debt. The stock market listing in London is expected to rank as one of the biggest in Europe this year.

Yell, owner of the Yellow Pages and Talking Pages directories, will sell new shares to fund, pension and investment banks.

It joins a nervous and growing stream of companies floating on the stock market. Pubs group Punch listed on the London Stock Exchange this week but had to cut its offer price after investors bulked at the price amid uncertainty for global economic growth and flagging stocks markets.

Yell "looks forward to putting its business case to investors,'' CEO Officer John Condron said in a statement on Thursday. "The share offer will strengthen our ability to make selective bolt-on acquisitions and give us access to equity markets, thereby increasing our strategic flexibility.''

The company was bought from BT Group (BT-) last June for £2.1 billion by private equity investors Hicks Muse Tate & Furst of the U.S. and Apax Partners. They used about £550 million of their own money and borrowed the rest.