The UK’s biggest retailer of pet products is planning to cash in on our love of animals with a £700m stock market flotation. Pets at Home’s sales have risen by 7.5% this year despite the recession. Bridgepoint, the private-equity owner of the chain, has held talks with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Cazenove, NM Rothschild and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the past two weeks about the timing, valuation and investor appetite for a float. If Bridgepoint proceeds with a listing, it could yield hundreds of millions of pounds in profit for its investors. The private equity group bought the chain for £230m in 2004 but it has been refinanced four times since, generating more than £120m in cash for its investors already. Pets at Home has enjoyed bumper results, with pre-tax profits rising by 29% to nearly £40m