UK leisure sector entrepreneur Nick Oppenheim is preparing to list the hedge fund of funds business he set up five years ago, just six months after he took over running the business when its chief executive resigned.

Oppenheim, who founded Aida Capital in 2001, wants to list the business, which manages about $175m (€132m) of assets, on the London market before the end of the year. Aida's stock market listing, which will raise no new money – though it is planning to raise new fund in 2007 – is being managed by Cenkos Securities, the UK broker started by Collins Stewart co-founder Andy Stewart, which completed its London listing in October. Aida's move comes six months after Catherine Cripps resigned as chief executive of the firm. A spokeswoman for Aida said Cripps' departure had been "amicable", and Oppenheim, who took over running the firm, would remain in charge. Two months after Cripps resigned, Mark Warrender, a director of Aida and a former partner at failed hedge fund Bailey Coates, left to become chief executive of Williams Trading Europe, a hedge fund trading technology company. Aida made a £8,684 (€12,846) profit in 2005 on turnover of £1.1m, according to its accounts for the year. This was an improvement from 2004, when the firm made a loss of £18,275 on revenues of £808,217.