Major commodities broker Marex Spectron, which also has a tanker desk, has said it is looking to list on the London Stock Exchange, according to sources familiar with the plans.

The planned listing could value the company at $650m to $800m.

Marex is taking advantage of booming commodity markets amid strong demand from China as it rebounds from the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also been expanding bolt-on services in derivatives markets.

The UK-based group could make its initial public offering as soon as June, UK newspaper the Financial Times (FT) reported.

Marex makes about half of its revenues from commodity hedging services, the FT reported. It logged a pre-tax profit of $55m in the year to December on net revenue of $414.7m, up from a profit of $46.6m a year earlier.

The company set up a tanker desk in 2016. The group’s tanker freight derivatives and options team operates from London and Oslo, providing spreads and options on all tanker routes.

Ian Lowitt is group chief executive of Marex Spectron. Photo: Marex Spectron

It was set up in late 2016 when Dave Cullen and Archie Chandler left Braemar ACM Shipbroking to join head of physical tankers former Affinity man Simen Ebbesen.

Marex told TradeWinds at the time that it was looking for further opportunities to invest in and expand its physical energy business with the initial move into clean petroleum broking.

This year, the company has grown its shipping business in Norway by hiring a number of experienced brokers from the clean products desk of rival Clarksons Platou Tankers.

Among the new hires will be Espen Arentz-Grastvedt and Tom Ranum, who will be based in Oslo, as TradeWinds has reported.

Marex's Oslo operation will be co-located in the offices of Nordic Shipping, a shipbroker specialising in projects and sale and purchase.

The global head of energy at Marex, Jeremy Elliot, said he sees potential for tanker broking in Oslo, and the company plans to also expand at its offices in Singapore and Houston. Its core business energy shipping is in freight derivatives and forward contracts.

Expansion into “adjacent products” as well as core services is a “central pillar” of the group’s strategy.

But the FT questioned the prospects for its main business, citing an “inevitable demise of traditional voice brokerage in core commodity markets”.

Marex has a 16% share in London’s historic physical commodities trading floor the London Metal Exchange, which is threatened with closure.