Aquis Exchange, founded by City veteran Alasdair Haynes, is lining up an initial public offering that could value the trading venue at around £75m and give it the funds needed to compete with larger rivals.

London-headquartered Aquis, which launched in November 2013 and has built up a roughly 2% market share in European equity trading, is initially looking to raise around £12m, according to people familiar with the matter.