Sept 2 (Reuters) - Engineering and maintenance services

provider Legence is targeting a valuation of up to $2.95 billion

in its U.S. initial public offering, it said on Tuesday, as the

new listings market kicks back into action after the seasonal

summer slowdown.

San Jose, California-based Legence, a Blackstone

portfolio company, is seeking up to $754 million by offering 26

million shares priced between $25 and $29 apiece.

With the IPO market buzzing after blowout debuts of

high-profile firms, Blackstone is preparing more companies to go

public than any other time since the record IPO year of 2021.

The world's largest alternative asset manager bought

Legence, then called Therma Holdings, from private equity firm

Gemspring Capital in 2020.

Over 100 years old, Legence designs and installs systems

such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, as well as

those boosting energy efficiency and sustainability in

buildings.

Under Blackstone's stewardship, Legence has acquired

several smaller rivals including A.O. Reed, OCI Associates, and

P2S.

DATA CENTER BOOM

Legence, which had $2.8 billion of backlog and awarded

contracts as of June 30, focuses on high-growth sectors that

have technically demanding buildings, including data centers and

life sciences.

Soaring investment in data centers as technology companies

build infrastructure needed to train and run artificial

intelligence models has boosted firms like Legence.

Nearly 40% of Legence's backlog and awarded contracts for

projects in new buildings were data centers as of 2024.

Goldman Sachs and Jefferies are the lead underwriters on the

IPO. Legence will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "LGN."