The founder of easyJet, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is set to push a high-profile listing for his easyHotel company in a bid to raise up to £60m on London's alternative investment market to fund expansion.

It is not yet clear how big a stake the company is looking to sell in this initial public offering, or what it hopes to be valued at, but the funds raised are to fuel growth across European cities, as well as to repay a loan to easyGroup.

The announcement comes as the latest in a flurry of IPO rumours and activity around the leisure sector.

Following Merlin’s public listing at the back end of last year, there have been rumours of a float for Prestbury Investments – the property company which owns a number of Merlin’s real estate portfolio. This was followed by the latest speculation in the long-running saga over whether Virgin Active will go public, with a £1bn-plus deal apparently in the offing.

“EasyHotel is raising money to accelerate growth at a much faster rate than I could have grown it as a private company, whilst enabling me to spend more time on my diversified portfolio of other investments,” said Haji-Ioannou.

“I will retain a significant minority stake post-IPO, and I am delighted to hand over to a strong board with a clear growth strategy to take this company forward to became one of the best known hotel brands in the world.”

The chain – which is fully-owned by easyGroup Holdings – was launched in 2004 and has 20 hotels, 17 of which operate as franchises. Seven of these are in London, with two more in Scotland and the remainder spread across Europe, Johannesburg and Dubai.

It is one of the many businesses under Haji-Ioannou’s "easy" brand, including companies such as easyGym.