Pets at Home is to offer employees and the general public a chance to buy shares ahead of the retailer's £1.2bn flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

Around 500 senior employees, from chief executive Nick Wood down to some store managers, already own 10% of the company, potentially handing them a £120m windfall when the company joins the public markets next month.

But all employees will be offered the chance to apply for guaranteed parcels of shares worth up to £750 giving them rights ahead of institutional investors. Pet-loving members of the public will also be able to apply for shares worth a minimum of £1,000 each.

"We believe its important to have as wide a shareholder base as possible. Our colleagues and customers love Pets at Home and have a common bond, an emotional bond with our business," said Wood (pictured left).

The former American Golf boss, whose twin daughters own twin Bichon Frisé dogs, said Pets at Home's 6,000 employees own 23,000 pets between them. "That gives you a feel for how much we love pets," he said.

The UK's biggest pet retailer with 369 stores, 246 vet surgeries and 116 in-store grooming salons is majority owned by US private equity firm KKR. 

Pets at Home will seek to raise £275m from issuing new shares in order to pay down debt so that it will join the market with net debt of the same amount. That will take its total enterprise value to £1.5bn.

Wood shrugged off suggestions that Pets had been squeezed for profits by its backers, saying £120m had been invested in the business in the four years KKR had held the keys.

"If you look at KKR's investment history in our business it has been significant," he said. "I think we have got a unique story and a unique growth opportunity that every investor needs to look at. That opportunity is about store growth and growth of services such as vets and pet groomers."

The retailer, which was founded in 1991, is aiming to open 131 stores, more than 400 more vets surgeries and nearly 200 more grooming parlours as it takes advantage of Brits' increasing desire to pamper their pets. The £5.4bn pet market, including food, accessories and services has grown at a rate of 2.6% a year over the last five years while Pets at Home has grown to take 12% of that market. In the 40 weeks to January 2, revenues rose 11%.7% year on year or 2.4% if the benefit of new store openings is stripped out. Underlying earnings also rose 1% to £87m.