The company will be raising about Rs 10 crore from the issue of 29.5 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 face value to fund its expansion plan over the next three years which is expected to cost an approximate Rs 24 crore, as per the draft prospectus filed with the Sebi.

The company is hoping to meet most of the remaining fund requirement through internal accruals though company officials did not rule out a limited private placement at a later date. The exact pricing and timing of the issue would depend upon the market conditions but it would be before the end of the current financial year, they said.

Asked to comment on the conservative pricing of between Rs 32-35 particularly at a time when other software companies had priced their issues aggressively with premiums around Rs 90 in one case, theysaid it was as much a result of the due diligence process as an attempt to give potential investors a better return on their investments.

While 3.5 lakh shares are to be allotted to promoters, the post issue size of equity shares will increase to 104 lakh shares from the existing 75.4 lakh.

The project was funded by venture capital companies like TDICI and RCTC in 1993 and continue to hold significant equity.

The expansion project which will see new facilities coming up at Hyderabad apart from new centres at Singapore, UK and Pune, is consonance with SQL's ambitious plan to position itself strongly in the web-to-host connectivity market and increase its reach overseas for ERP consulting and high-end IT training.

The company will be setting up high-end training centres in Singapore and the UK where it already has a presence. While SQL has apportioned $1.25 million for increasing operations abroad, the success of the Singapore and UK training ventures would determine further forays into Asia-Pacific andEurope, Ashok Agarwal had told The Financial Express in a recent interview.

While it has targetted a Rs 27 crore turnover for the current financial year compared to the Rs 18.75 crore last year, we will be a Rs 100 crore company within a matter of three years. SQL is looking at a 50 per cent to 60 per cent growth rate per annum over the next few years.

In the immediate future, keeping the increasing demands on space, the company is setting up a new facility at the Hi-Tech City at Madhapur in Hyderabad at an investment of between Rs 6 crore to Rs 7 crore. This will be complete within an year's time.

SQL Star Intl had recorded a 240 per cent jump in its pre-tax profit for the first half of the current financial year amounting to Rs 2.15 crore on a turnover of Rs 12.20 crore. The hi-end education front contributed nearly 40 per cent of the Rs 12.20 crore revenue during the first half of the current year.