Esure launches float as profits double The motor and home insurer is looking to raise £50m from a sale of new shares and an as-yet undisclosed amount from the partial sale of existing shares held by current investors, including founder and chairman Peter Wood, in order to float between 35 and 50pc of the company and wipe out its debt. It is believed the 13-year-old company is aiming for a valuation upwards of £1bn, which if achieved would place the group comfortably in the FTSE 250 and would require existing investors to raise up to £450m from their shares. Mr Wood will nonetheless retain a "significant shareholding," according to Esure's announcement, and remain the company's largest shareholder. The price tag, which has attracted caution from investors, appears more realistic in the light of a more-than-doubling of pre-tax profit in 2012, which Esure unveiled alongside its announcement to float. It follows a well-received flotation last October by Esure's biggest rival, Direct Line, which valued the company at about £2.6bn. Since then, Direct Line, which was also founded by Mr Wood, shares have risen 21pc. Shares in the float will be open to individuals as well as institutional investors. Esure, which is known for its humorous adverts featuring the late film maker Michael Winner, was founded in 2000 as a joint venture between mortgage lender Halifax and insurance entrepreneur Mr Wood, who fifteen years earlier had launched Direct Line, the first British insurer to focus on selling policies over the telephone. Esure's business model centres on its targeting of low-risk clients, with 95pc of Sheilas' Wheels policyholders being female and 98pc of home policies held in areas considered to have a low flood risk.