* EQT sets price range of SEK 62-68
* Order book set to open on Friday
* Range values company at 5.5-6 bln euro(Adds background, quotes)
By Abhinav Ramnarayan
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Swedish private equity firm EQTunveiled the price range on Thursday for the shares it will liston the Stockholm bourse to raise up to 1.3 billion euros ($1.44billion) for overseas expansion.
EQT plans to sell around 20 percent of its shares at 62-68Swedish krona ($6.44-$7.06) each in the maiden listing,according to a lead manager, raising between 1.2 billion-1.3billion euros.
Investors will be able to place orders across the pricerange from Friday morning onwards. The initial public offering(IPO) looks set to value the company between 11.8-13.0 billionSwedish krona, or 5.5-6.0 bln euros, the lead manager said.
The IPO will fund continued investments in the business andgrowth opportunities, including expansion in North America andAsia-Pacific, the company said in a statement.
The deal will consist of a mixture of new shares -- thatwill raise about 501-550 million euros equivalent for the firm-- and existing shares sold by the owners.
The selling shareholders in the IPO will primarily consistof Swedish investment company Investor AB and a group ofpartners, including three former partners.
With 40 billion euros ($45 billion) under management, EQThas transformed itself since its 1994 launch from an investmentarm for Sweden's influential Wallenberg family into Europe'ssecond-largest private equity fund behind Britain's CVC.
"In order to future-proof EQT and continue our growth, weare considering taking this a step further by building EQT's ownbalance sheet," Chief Executive Christian Sinding told Reutersin July.
($1 = 0.9039 euros)
($1 = 9.6293 Swedish crowns)(Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan, editing by Kirstin Ridley andElaine Hardcastle)