Groupon Inc could price shares in its initial public offering $1 or $2 above the current range of $16 to $18 per share, according to two investors who said they spoke with the lead underwriters on Wednesday.

Groupon is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 30 million shares in the IPO, equivalent to a 4.7 percent stake. Books are expected to close later on Wednesday afternoon, with trading on the Nasdaq to begin on Friday.

If the IPO prices at $19 per share, that would value Groupon at $12.02 billion. If it prices at $20 per share, that would value the company at $12.7 billion.

No further information was immediately available. A spokesman for Groupon declined comment, as did a spokesman for lead underwriter Morgan Stanley. The other leads, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr in San Francisco and Anthony Hughes and Clare Baldwin in New York, editing by Tiffany Wu)

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