The money management firm Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. has filed for a possible public offering.

The firm, which bills itself as one of Canada’s pre-eminent wealth management firms serving high net worth private clients and institutional investors, as filed a preliminary prospectus for a secondary offering. If an offering goes ahead, the company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of subordinate voting shares by the selling shareholders (including founders Ira Gluskin and Gerald Sheff).

The company says it intends to use the net proceeds of any offering, “to facilitate the growth of its business and for general corporate purposes”.

The deal, which has yet to be priced, is being underwritten by RBC Dominion Securities Inc., TD Securities Inc. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., Genuity Capital Markets G.P., GMP Securities L.P. and Sprott Securities Inc.

The prospectus reports that the firm has assets under management (AUM) of approximately $3.75 billion as at March 31. According to Investor Economics Inc., as of Dec. 31, 2005, Gluskin Sheff was the fifth largest Canadian non-bank private client wealth management firm in terms of AUM. It also notes that AUM have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 25.7% from its inception in July 1984 to March 31.