Britain's biggest phone directory publisher, Yell, has said it will float on the London stock market this summer.

Yell, which owns the Yellow Pages and Talking Pages directories, said it was hoping to raise �750m.

The flotation is expected to be one of Europe's biggest this year.

We welcome the share offer and look forward to putting our business case to investors

John Condron, Yell

Yell chief executive John Condron said he was "excited" about prospects:

Expansion plans

"We welcome the share offer and look forward to putting our business case to investors," he said.

The company said the proceeds would be mostly used to repay existing debt.

But Mr Condron said the offer would also strengthen the company's ability to make acquisitions and bolster its "strategic flexibility".

Yell consolidated its position in the United States last month by acquiring the country's second largest independent directories publisher, McLeod.

Poor response

It already operates the Yellow Book in the US and is the UK's biggest operator in the classified advertising market, through the Yellow Pages and Business Pages directories.

Yell was bought from BT by the venture capitalists Apax and Hicks Muse Tate & Furst for �2.1bn nearly a year ago.

There had been suggestions that it might have changed its mind about floating on the stock market because of the poor response to flotations this year.

The pubs group Punch listed this week after cutting its offer price.

And the music retailer HMV group is trading well below its issue price.