L.A. is set to pick up a new public company next week, as Century City investment bank Houlihan Lokey prepares for its initial public offering.

The firm, which specializes in advising on middle-market deals, will offer about 13 million shares, all of them owned by company insiders or Japanese finance firm Orix Corp.

According to documents filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Houlihan expects shares to sell for between $22 and $24. At the midpoint, that would give selling shareholders a haul of $300 million and value the company at $1.5 billion – 19 times its most recent fiscal year earnings of $79.9 million.

Shares are set to price and begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “HLI” next week, according to Renaissance Capital, a Greenwich, Conn., firm that tracks IPOs and manages IPO-focused funds.

Of the 13 million shares set to be sold, about 3 million will come from Houlihan Lokey executives and insiders, with the other 10 million coming from Orix.

Orix, which acquired a 70 percent stake in Houlihan Lokey in a $500 million cash and stock deal in 2006, will hold about one-third of the firm’s shares following the offering.