The company, which is aiming to be included in Germany's midcap stock index, has set a price range at between 10.50 euros ($12.53) and 14.50 euros.

Majority owner Holtzbrinck has doubled its share order to 200 million euros, Morgan Stanley said. Trading is expected to start on the Frankfurt exchange on May 9.

The company, which publishes science magazines Nature and Scientific American, plans to raise 1.2 billion euros through the initial public offering, and to use the bulk of proceeds to cut net debt by a third.

The IPO is on track to be the second biggest this year on the Frankfurt stock exchange, behind Siemens' medical technology business Healthineers, but ahead of Deutsche Bank asset management arm DWS.

Springer Nature was formed in 2015 through the merger of Holtzbrinck's Macmillan Science and Education business with BC Partners' Springer business, which publishes scientific, technical and medical books and journals.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Susan Fenton and Jane Merriman)