According to Reuters, the IPO is expected to lower private equity firm First Reserve Corp's stake of CHC to 61.3%.

CHC announced the IPO on Monday and said the price was expected to be between $16 and $18 per share for the 29.4 million shares offered.

Only a preliminary prospectus is available by request at this stage, with banks JP Morgan, Barclays and UBS serving as the joint book-running managers.

CHC's fleet of 238 heavy and medium helicopters are mainly deployed for transporting crews to offshore drilling rigs and for providing emergency services for governments.

The shares are expected to be listed under the stock symbol "HELI".