The company is 49% owned by Synlait and 51% owned by Chinese food giant Bright Dairy and Food Co. Ltd.
In a statement yesterday, it said proceeds would be used to support various growth initiatives, including the construction of a packaging plant, and to facilitate Synlait Milk refinancing its debt position to support those initiatives.
Synlait Milk will distribute to its shareholders, on a pro-rata basis, the shares it holds in Synlait Milk, before any initial public offering.
Any Synlait shareholders who did not sell all their Synlait Milk shares into the offer would be subject to escrow arrangements. Bright Dairy was expected to retain its full investment in Synlait Milk.
A bookbuild process would be used to set the offer price and First NZ Capital and Goldman Sachs had been appointed by Synlait Milk as joint lead managers of the proposed IPO.
Synlait started processing milk at its factory at Dunsandel, in Canterbury, in 2008.
In 2011, it opened a $100 million infant nutritional facility, the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Last week, Synlait Milk announced it was spending $15 million to upgrade its special milks drier, as it looked to further tap into the $15 billion-a-year demand for infant formula in China.
The investment would enable the company to become one of only two manufacturers in the world to produce lactoferrin as a spray-dried powder, and it would also allow it to manufacture dairy ingredients to a pharmaceutical standard, chief executive Dr John Penno said.
The decision to invest in the high-value ingredient had been stimulated by contracts with eight ''significant'' customers for infant formula, including YinQiao Xi' An and Bright Dairy.
