Mark Watkin Jones, group managing director, is the ninth generation of the Watkin Jones family at the helm of the business, which was founded in 1791 by carpenter Huw Jones.

Since becoming md 13 years ago he has transformed a regional Welsh company into a national player with a mix of housing and student accommodation schemes.

The Bangor-based firm lifted turnover to around £250m in last published accounts for 2014 expanding to employ over 300 staff, from a strong pipeline of student accommodation schemes around the country.

Watkins Jones was one of the early players to target the student market outside London and has delivered more than 25,000 student units since 1999.

In the last two years alone the Group has traded in excess of £450m in student assets and delivered to the market over 6,200 student homes.

According to a report in the Sunday Times adviser Zeus Capital is looking into the firm’s options and have approached city fund managers to gauge the appetite for a listing.