Online UK retailer set to float for €500m

Online retailer Ocado is planning a flotation that will bring a €140m windfall for its three founders, it was reported today.

The group, which is the third-largest online grocer in the UK and sells food from British supermarket chain Waitrose, is expected to be valued at around €500m.

According to the Financial Times, Ocado will seek a stock market listing in the summer of 2006 – just six years after it was set up by three former Goldman Sachs bankers.

Tim Steiner, Jason Gissing and Jonathan Faiman stand to gain from selling their 27% stake in the company they founded.