UK property developer Watkin Jones plans London float

(Reuters) - Watkin Jones Ltd , a developer of student accommodation in the UK, said it expected to be valued at about 255 million pounds ($364 million) when it lists on London's junior Alternative Investment Market later this month.

Since 1999, Watkin Jones has built 28,000 student beds across 88 sites, using funding from a number of institutional partners.

The company said it currently had the capacity to deliver at least 10 student developments each year and that its pipeline at this point consisted of 11,300 beds and 31 developments.

Revenue from continuing operations rose about 7 percent to 244.2 million pounds in the year ended September 30, while operating profit from continuing operations more than doubled to 32.5 million pounds.

Watkin Jones said it has ambitions to expand into the booming private rented sector, where demand has risen sharply in the face of an acute shortage of houses in the UK and rising prices.

Trading in Watkin Jones' shares is expected to begin on March 23.

Zeus Capital and Peel Hunt were acting as joint bookrunners and joint brokers, the company said.

($1 = 0.7009 pounds)

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru Editing by Sunil Nair)