Trivago has ended months of speculation and announced its intention to list on the public financial markets for the first time.

The Germany-based metasearch engine intends to place itself on NASDAQ in the US under the TRVG symbol.

The offering size, according to documents filed by Dutch holding company Travel BV, is $400 million – a figure that is lower than what some analysts have predicted in recent weeks.

Class A shares in the company will be sold to the public by its existing management team, whilst the remaining Class B shares that are owned by Expedia Inc will remain with the global travel group.

Expedia originally bought a 61.6% stake in Trivago almost four years to the day in December 2012 for $632 million.

This move came a month after arch rival Priceline Group’s purchase of fellow travel search brand Kayak for $1.8 billion.

Trivago took a net loss of $57.8 million on the back of $425.6 million during the first nine months of 2016.

Bookrunners for the IPO are JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.