Apax Partners, the global private equity house, is in the early stages of preparing a flotation of Azimut, the Italian fund manager it bought just two years ago.

Apax owns 65% of Azimut with the management and their teams owning the balance. An Apax spokeman said that the initial public offering (IPO) is in the preliminary stages and that it will assess the market in four to five months time before making a final decision.