Addison Lee is planning to refinance by £300 million in order to strengthen itself against its rivals. Indeed, Addison Lee Group has begun negotiating a deal with investment banks to replace existing debt facilities.

The negotiations follow as two of its competitors, Uber and Lyft, plan to launch flotations on the US stock market. On 17 October, Uber announced a $120 billion (£91 million) valuation in a stock market flotation planned for next year. In fact, the company’s float is predicted to be the most highly anticipated listing of 2019. If Uber does receive a high valuation, it will be worth three times more than Ford. Equally, it will be valued over twice as much as the electric car firm Tesla.

Addison Lee must compete with the popularity of other market giants.

The company is owned by the private equity investor Carlyle. Carlyle has owned what once was London’s largest cab operator since 2013. Addison Lee is run by chief executive Andy Boland. It has roughly 5,000 cars in London and has about a 10% share of the market. It falls behind London’s iconic traditional black cabs and cab-hailing mobile app Uber.

Today, there are a variety of cab-hailing mobile apps. In addition to Uber and Addison Lee, smartphone users can download Gett, Kabbee, MyTaxi, BlaBlaCar and Taxify.

Addison Lee said it was set to transform “from a London private hire business to a global premium ground transport provider”. This was announced in its results for the year to August 2017. Revenues increased by 31% to £346 million, and the figure is predicted to exceed £400 million next year.

More and more apps are becoming available to smartphone users, each designed to streamline the cab experience. As a result, Addison Lee has experienced strong competition for a share in the market. As a result, it has made a series of purchases to ignite its popularity.