Aecom Tech plans to raise $700 million in a busy week for initial public offerings, after the Los Angeles-based engineering and architecture firm reported a nearly 80 percent jump in first-quarter net income, MarketWatch reports.

Aecom Tech plans to offer 35.2 million shares at $18 to $20 apiece with underwriters Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and UBS, in one of the richer offerings this week.

Employing some 30,000 people in 60 countries, Aecom Tech recently reported earnings jumped to $21.2 million from $11.9 million in the year-earlier period as revenue reached $1.1 billion from $859 million.

Aecom Tech ranks as the world’s largest general architectural and engineering-design firm, measured by 2006 design revenue, according to trade sources the company cited in its IPO prospectus.

Projects in its portfolio include engineering and design services for the Rion-Antirion Bridge in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece, and construction supervision on the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.

In its IPO filing earlier this year, Aecom Tech listed its maximum IPO proceeds at $200 million. Now it is attempting to raise more than triple that amount after managing to double its net income.

Aecom is also benefiting from favorable conditions in the overall IPO market.

Aecom Tech, which traces its roots to 1990, marks the second major employee-owned firm to go public in recent months.