By Katharine Campbell, Growing Business Correspondent

Europ@web, the internet investment vehicle of Bernard Arnault, is pressing ahead with an initial public offering in spite of a port-folio heavily weighted towards unfashionable business-to-consumer investments and its association with Boo.com, the failed e-tailer.

The group, which was formed last June, is scheduled to make an announcement concerning the IPO in Paris on Tuesday. Credit Suisse First Boston has been appointed book-runner and the company, which is expected to carry a valuation of $3bn to $6bn, is thought to be planning to list in Paris and Amsterdam.

It is under pressure to find new funds, as it has invested E480m of the E500m that Mr Arnault put into the company a year ago, and is expected to raise around E500m from investors.

Rival investment bankers expressed surprise that it was braving the markets now, given its lack of track record and the composition of its portfolio.

The shares of CMGI, the Nasdaq-listed internet operating company upon which Europ@web has effectively modelled itself, are trading at about a third of their high set at the beginning of the year, and below the company's net asset value.

In the last year Europ@web has built a portfolio of 40 internet investments. Its most successful involvement has been Liberty Surf, the French internet service provider, where it is showing unrealised gains of about $1.1bn. E-commerce makes up about 43 per cent of the portfolio by cost.

Stock market investors have fled most kinds of e-commerce companies, and while the climate for internet-related IPOs has improved, the emphasis has shifted to more solid business models.

Europ@web has said it wants to invest more in internet enablers and online marketplaces.

VIDEO: Past failures of Europ@web

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