PartyGaming today confirmed plans to float on the London Stock Exchange in what is likely to be the largest initial public offering in the UK since the end of the dot.com boom.

The world's largest online poker company, which operates PartyPoker.com, the most popular poker site, is expected to be valued at around $10 billion, a figure that would propel the four-year-old business straight in to the FTSE 100.

PartyGaming said up to 23 per cent of its existing shares are expected to be sold in the offer by shareholders, likely to include its founders and management. The offer is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The company was co-founded by Ruth Parasol, who moved into online gaming from the pornography industry. She and her husband own around 40 per cent of the business. Anurag Dikshit, the 33-year-old Indian computer specialist owns a similar portion.

It employs around 1,000 people, more than 900 in India working on customer support and software development. It has a head office in Gibraltar and marketing staff in the UK. The company revealed today that it had made a pre-tax profit of $371.7 million last year on sales of $601.6 million.

Richard Segal, PatyGaming's chief executive officer, said: 'These results are further evidence of the growth in the online gaming market and specifically online poker".

Mr Segal said that building the 'Party' brand in broader geographic regions was a priority as well as creating new games and exploiting new channels to market such as wireless applications.

The company believes the online gaming market is fragmented and geographically diverse which presents opportunities for strategic acquisitions and market consolidation.

"A listing will provide us with a solid foundation to achieve these goals as well as bringing further transparency and credibility to the Group internationally," Mr Segal said.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Limited is acting as sponsor and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities Limited is acting as global co-ordinator and bookrunner.

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