By Anshuman Daga and Siddhartha Dubey

LONDON  - Venture capital-funded MindTree Consulting, an Indian mid-sized software services exporter, expects to raise about $70 million through a local initial public offering early next year, its top official said.

"Our board meeting in October will take a final decision on that, but the target date would be around February 2007," Ashok Soota, chairman and managing director of the Bangalore-based company said in an interview.

"In terms of size, it will be finally decided at the board meeting, but my guess is that it would be about $70 million, plus or minus $10 million."

MindTree, founded in late 1999 by high-profile former executives mainly from India's third-largest software exporter Wipro, ran into trouble early on as its technology consulting clients took a beating from the dot-com crash.

MindTree then branched into industrial automation-related software and other services. It counts Unilever, Volvo and AIG among its top 10 clients.

"Looking back, I think it was the best thing that happened to us because we then developed a whole new range of practices," Soota said during an interview with Reuters and Times Now, Reuters' television joint venture with the Times of India group.

MindTree is about 40 per cent owned by venture capitalists and funds including Franklin Templeton and Walden International.

KEY ROLE FOR VCS

Soota said the IPO would enable VCs to partly cash in on their investment, but they would remain key stakeholders.

"Logically, we have got to give an exit path to the venture capitalists and a means of monetising the gains to our people."

"The understanding that we have so far from them is that they are all interested in remaining on, and so we don't expect a large secondary element to this issue," he said, adding that the underwriters to the IPO would be decided in a few months.

MindTree has two main businesses, information technology services and research and development services and caters to industries including transportation and financial services.

The firm employs 3,500 and aims to make a net addition of 1,200 to 1,300 to its staff strength by the end of March 2007.

Soota reiterated MindTree's ambitious target of hitting $1 billion in revenue by about 2012. It reported revenue of $100 million in the year to March 2006 and expects acquisitions to boost growth.

"We dont see any need to be acquired. We see ourselves more as an acquirer than an acquiree."