It is understood that Irish fuel company Petrogas has been seeking advisers to explore the possibility of floating its Applegreen service station business - and has spoken to both Davy and Goodbody stockbrokers.
If market conditions are appropriate, the flotation could happen in the second quarter of 2015.
The story broke in today's Irish Times, which reports that after financial restructuring, the company is now in expansion mode - and hoping to raise more than €100m.
Applegreen has more than 90 service stations in Ireland, and operates a number of Burger King, Costa and Subway franchises.
In July, Applegreen announced the creation of 360 full time jobs in Ireland and a €30m investment in six new service areas across 2014 and 2015. It is also planning to invest £25m (€32m) in four motorway stations in Northern Ireland.
Petrogas has more than 140 forecourts across the UK and Ireland. It was founded in 1992 by the current chief executive, Bob Etchingham, and its retail director, Joe Barrett. It employs close to 2,000 people.
The last accounts filled by Petrogas showed a pre-tax profit of almost €14m with a turnover of €394m.
