Uber rival Lyft plans stock market flotation as soon as March

Second-largest ride-hailing company hires advisors to work on initial public offering

n IPO in spring 2019 would mean Lyft will go public before market leader Uber, which is planning to float late next year (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

Uber’s biggest rival, Lyft, has reportedly begun planning for a stock market floatation in March or April next year.

The second-largest ride-hailing company in the US has hired advisors to work closely with its management team and plans to begin receiving pitches from banks to run the initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the proposed deal.

An IPO in spring 2019 would mean Lyft will go public before market leader Uber, which is planning to float late next year.

“A variety of factors will determine if and when Lyft goes public, but in the meantime we are focused on building our business, which continues to grow,” a spokesperson for Lyft said in a statement.

“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”

Uber's plans for an IPO next year have forced Lyft to decide when is the best time for its flotation.

Typically, companies in the same market do not want to sell their shares too close to each other for fear that investor appetite may dry up.

Lyft raised $600m in its most recent funding round led by Fidelity Management in June this year, doubling its valuation to $15.1bn from $7.5bn little more than a year ago.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said this week that his company was still on track for a planned public offering in the second half of this year.

Uber was valued at around $72bn in a February legal settlement with Alphabet’s Waymo.