Mumbai, Feb. 9: 3i Infotech Ltd has filed a draft red herring prospectus for its proposed initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The company, which was formerly called ICICI Infotech Ltd, may issue up to 20 million shares, with a possible greenshoe option for an additional 3 million, through a 100 per cent book-building route.

Up to 50 per cent of the net issue is likely to be allocated on a discretionary basis to qualified institutional buyers.

Moreover, not less than 25 per cent of the net issue will be allotted on a proportionate basis to non-institutional bidders and not less than 25 per cent will be set aside for retail investors.

The full issue will constitute 42.59 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid-up capital of the company if the greenshoe option is exercised.

Using the greenshoe option will stabilise the post-listing price of the shares.

JM Morgan Stanley Pvt Ltd and DSP Merrill Lynch are acting as book running lead managers and ICICI Securities Ltd is the co-book running lead manager.

3i Infotech provides information technology solutions for banking, finance, insurance, e-governance, manufacturing, retail and distribution. The company serves customers in 30 countries and has a presence across four continents.

The IPO of 3i Infotech comes at a time when the secondary markets are facing a bullish undertone with both foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic investors taking active interest ahead of the Union Budget for 2005-06. Consequently, a string of companies are looking at the capital markets to part-finance their expansion plans.