The company, which has three divisions - horticulture, storage and logistics and food ingredients, registered its prospectus and investment statement yesterday.
The IPO would be made up of an offer of up to 100.8 million ordinary shares. The offer would raise up to $30 million of new capital and provide Scales with flexibility for the future expansion of the business, managing director Andy Borland said.
An indicative price range had been set at $1.60 to $1.80 per share. Based on the indicative price range, the company's market capitalisation would be between $221 million and $251 million.
The offer was expected to receive strong support from both retail and institutional investors in New Zealand and onshore, chairman Jon Mayson said.
''Scales has an exposure to the key primary sectors in New Zealand across its three operating divisions. We believe our diversity and exposure to a number of expanding export sectors is one of our key strengths.''
The horticulture business included Mr Apple, New Zealand's largest fully integrated grower, packer and marketer of apples.
Scales earlier reported an after-tax profit of $20.4 million on record revenue of $272.8 million. Joint lead managers are Deutsche Craigs and First NZ Capital.
Timeline
June 20: Prospectus registration
July 4: Final price announced
July 5: Broker firm offer opens
July 22: Broker firm offer closes
July 25: Trading expected to start
