Goldman Sachs Goes For The Gold

A deal shaping up to be Wall Street's biggest initial public offering in history now looks like it could get even bigger.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs on Monday raised the estimated offering price range of its upcoming 60 million share IPO to $45 to $55 a share, up from the original $40 to $50 range listed when the prestigious firm originally filed for the deal in mid-March.

The decision to increase the pricing range comes amid a fairly strong month for publicly traded rivals such as Merrill Lynch and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. In addition, Goldman agreed on March 29 to take a 22 percent stake in online investment bank Wit Capital, which has filed for its own upcoming IPO.

If priced at the top end of the expected range, the Goldman IPO could raise as much as $3.3 billion. That would unseat Lucent Technology as the second-largest IPO from a U.S. company. Last year's $4.4 billion offering from DuPont's Conoco would remain at the top o the list.

The Goldman Sachs offering is expected in May. Last year, Goldman filed for an IPO but was forced into the embarrassing position of canceling its plans amid market turbulence.

The company expects to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "GS."

Written By Darren Chervitz, CBS MarketWatch