Adds details and background throughout

May 11 (Reuters) - Lincoln International said on Monday it was targeting a valuation of up to roughly $2 billion in its New York listing, in what could be one of the biggest U.S. investment bank listings in nearly two decades.

The Chicago, Illinois-based boutique investment bank and selling stockholders are seeking up to $421 million in the IPO by offering nearly 21 million shares priced between $18 and $20 apiece.

Of the total, Lincoln is offering 20.6 million shares, while existing stockholders are selling the remaining 445,942.

The spring IPO market is seeing a strong pickup in activity after a brief lull in March as issuers look past geopolitical uncertainty to move ahead with their listing plans.

In the busiest week for big IPOs since 2021, three billion-dollar offerings are set to price, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.

Founded in 1996 by Jim Lawson and Rob Barr, Lincoln is a mid-market-focused investment bank specializing in private capital markets.

Lincoln provides merger and acquisition, capital, private funds and valuation advisory services to private capital firms, with roughly 1,400 professionals across 14 countries as of December 31.

RARE INVESTMENT BANK IPO

Investment bank IPOs in New York have been few and far between in the past two decades, with Lincoln's offering set to be among the biggest since Lazard's LAZ.N $855 million IPO in 2005, according to Dealogic data.

Boutique banks Moelis MC.N and Houlihan Lokey HLI.N went public in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Most recently, Perella Weinberg Partners PWP.O listed in New York in 2021 through a merger with Betsy Cohen's blank-check firm.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are joint lead bookrunners. Lincoln will list on the NYSE under the symbol "LCLN".