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Koala, the online boxed mattress retailer which has expanded into a range of furniture and homewares, is exploring an ASX listing that it hopes would see the decade-old start-up valued at more than $500 million.

Street Talk can reveal Koala is working with Barrenjoey Capital Partners as it weighs an ASX debut, four months after Dany Milham took over from his mild-mannered co-founder Mitch Taylor as the company’s chief executive. The duo own just over 50 per cent of Koala, with the rest in the hands of investors like Perennial Partners, Alium Capital Management and cricketer Steve Smith.

People who were briefed on the discussions said Koala’s run at the ASX boards was dependent on whether comparable businesses maintained a recent surge in their valuations.

In particular, Milham and his bankers are said to be taking their cues from Temple & Webster, an online furniture retailer whose share price has more than doubled in the past two years and hit a record-high last month thanks to strong growth in active customers as well as basket size.

“Koala does not comment on market speculation,” a Koala spokesman said.

Koala joins TPG Capital’s pets and vets business Greencross, Bain Capital’s Virgin Australia and American Industrial Partners′ MolyCop in the IPO pipeline, alongside smaller names such as Singapore-headquartered digital infrastructure group Campana and a slew of Canadian miners that are exploring secondary listings on the ASX.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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• The Australian Agricultural Company has snagged at least one credible buyer for its mothballed Darwin beef processing plant near Livingstone. And it happens to be a billionaire.
• Melbourne-based real estate investor EG Funds has topped-up its stake in proptech Avani Solutions, used by Charter Hall and Brookfield.
• A handful of key executives have left the building at Ellerston-backed Konvoy Kegs, as FTI Consulting sorts out emergency funding.

• Star Entertainment received an eleventh-hour bid from US’s Bally Corporation, offering $250 million-plus in convertible notes for 50.1 per cent equity.
• Melbourne private lender Banner Asset Management has quietly restricted redemptions after troubles at underlying property projects.
• Hedge fund Palliser Capital is pushing Rio Tinto to drop its UK listing, after Bloomberg said the miner’s mooted $8 billion raising was dead.

Tim Goyder’s Liontown Resources and Chalice Mining were on short sellers’ radar on Monday morning, after the former billionaire sold down on Friday.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.