Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. is making progress toward its goal of launching an initial public offering, as it has hired a string of underwriters to help lay the groundwork for its IPO, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The move will give Uber the flexibility it needs to launch its IPO as early as the first half of this year, Reuters said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The new underwriters include investment banks such as Bank of America Corp, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, Allen & Co., Deutsche Bank AG and JMP Securities, the report said. Those banks will support Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which were hired to lead Uber’s IPO last year. Additional underwriters are likely to be hired in the coming weeks, too. Neither Uber nor the banks involved commented on the report.

Uber’s IPO plans were confirmed in December when it filed paperwork related to the offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That came just days after Uber’s smaller rival Lyft Inc. filed plans for its own IPO, which is likely to launch by the end of this month.

Reuters said several of the investment banks hired by Uber had declined the opportunity to get involved with Lyft’s IPO. That’s because Uber’s offering is likely to be far more lucrative, the report said. JMP Securities is involved with both, however, although it will take a more junior role in each of the offerings.

Lyft’s IPO is said to be led by Credit Suisse Group AG and Jefferies Group LLC, which are working with five other underwriters. The company is likely to be valued at about $25 billion when the IPO launches, Reuters said.

Uber’s IPO should be far bigger, with some bankers indicating its value could soar beyond the $120 billion mark, though others say $100 billion is more realistic. Those are fairly eye-watering numbers, but Holger Mueller, an analyst with Constellation Research Inc., said what’s more important is that the companies can deliver strong shareholder returns.

“The business model is proven, now it comes down to managing investor expectations and delivering on them,” Mueller said. “It will also be interesting to see where the IPO values will end in comparison to pure-play transportation companies.”

Also on Tuesday, Uber agreed to pay its drivers $20 million in order to settle a six-year old lawsuit over its policy of classifying them as independent contractors rather than employees. The drivers argued that Uber should consider them as employees and provide associated benefits such as health insurance.

The settlement should help to ease at least one concern Uber’s potential IPO backers may have, though the company still faces thousands of arbitration claims from drivers not covered by the settlement.

Photo: Uber Switzerland/Flickr