SiliconBeat

Interest must be heavy in obtaining a piece of OpenTable’s impending initial public offering of stock scheduled for later this week, judging by an amendment the San Francisco-based developer of an electronic reservation booking system for restaurants filed today to its initial registration statement. The potential price range was bumped up nicely from the $12-$14 range the company announced last week to $16-$18.

That would boost the amount of many raised by the offering of 3 million shares to as high as $54 million, from $42 million at the previous high end. Nearly half of that money, however, will go to current shareholders who are using the IPO to sell off some of their stake in the company.

An additional 450,000 shares may be sold by the underwriters to cover any over allotments. The offering is being managed by Merrill Lynch, with participation from Allen & Co., Stifel Nicolaus and ThinkEquity.