ING Canada Inc. announced Friday that it has filed a a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators to sell common shares to the public.

In a statement, the insure said it will use the funds raised by the IPO to pay for its acquisition of the Allianz group’s Canadian property and casualty insurance operations.

The offering involves ING Canada’s insurance operations and excludes its sister company ING Bank of Canada, which operates Internet banking unit ING Direct.

The share offering is expected to be sold through a syndicate of underwriters led by Merrill Lynch Canada and CIBC World Markets.

Money raised will be used to finance the previously announced acquisition of Allianz Canada, to repay debts to parent company ING Groep N.V. of the Netherlands and for general corporate purposes.

After the common share isssue is completed, ING Groep will still hold a significant controlling interest in ING Canada, this country’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance based on premiums.

Earlier this month, ING Canada signed a deal to buy the Canadian property and casualty insurance operations of Germany’s Allianz group. Under the deal, ING will buy Allianz of Canada Inc. and subsidiaries Allianz Insurance Co. of Canada, Trafalgar Insurance Co. of Canada as well as Canada Brokerlink, a network of insurance brokerages operating in Ontario and Alberta.