Sale Awaits Approval by SEC : FileNet Plans Its First Public Offering of Stock

FileNet Corp. of Costa Mesa has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering of 1.75 million shares of common stock.

Mark St. Clare, the corporation’s vice president of finance, said Friday the SEC will take “anywhere from four to six weeks” to approve the offering, which will be for about $17 per share.

The offering will be underwritten by a syndicate headed by Morgan Stanley & Co. of New York, and Robertson, Colman & Stephens of San Francisco, a company spokesman said. The syndicate will underwrite 1.5 million shares in the United States and Canada. The remaining 250,000 shares will be underwritten internationally.

Of the North American shares, nearly 1.14 million will be sold by the company, while the remaining 362,450 will be sold by stockholders. According to the statement filed with the SEC, the selling stockholders include Edward A. Miller, the company’s vice president of engineering who co-founded FileNet with Theodore J. Smith, its president, and Elserino Piol of Italy, a board member.

Miller will offer 15,000 of his 154,000 shares, while Piol will sell 50,000 of his 637,000 shares.

The statement noted that the proceeds will be used in part to expand working capital. The proceeds may also be used “to acquire companies, products or expertise which complement its business,” though no acquisitions are planned.

The company makes document-imaging-processing computer systems that store files on optical disks. Last year the company earned $1.36 million.