SSP, whose brands include Upper Crust, Camden Food Co and Millie’s Cookies, plans to raise £500m by floating on the London Stock Exchange.
The travel food and beverage group intends to use the proceeds of its listing to reduce debts and is expected to give the company an enterprise value of up to £2bn.
It operates almost 2,000 outlets largely at airports and railway stations across 30 countries in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
SSP chief executive Swann said, "An IPO is the appropriate next step for a business of SSP's caliber, size and international scale and we believe that we are well-placed for life as a listed company."
SSP is owned by EQT, the Swedish buyout group that is backed by the Wallenberg family.
In the 12 months to the end of September, SSP reported revenues of £1.8bn and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £153m, up about 10% on the previous year.
Swann said SSP's Swedish owners, who hold 94% of the company, would remain majority investors after the IPO.
"There is huge opportunity in both [air and rail]...we will enter new countries but that will be secondary to growing in the countries where we already exist because of such a big opportunity in places like the U.S. and China." Swann told to The Wall Street Journal.
According to the company, favorable trends, including rising air and rail passenger numbers, increasing consumer spend, and ongoing investment in travel infrastructure around the world will aid the group.
