July 22 - Women's apparel retailer Francesca's Holdings Corp sold 10 million shares in its initial public offering, priced at $17 per share, above the expected range, an underwriter said.

Francescascollections.com

The company, which operates boutique-style stores that cater to 18-35 year old women, had earlier planned to sell shares for $14 to $16 per share.

The Houston-based company raised $170 million in the offering.

The company sold about 3.3 million shares while selling stockholders sold about 6.7 million shares.

Thursday's pricing values the 11-year-old company at about $307 million.

The company's sales rose about 62 percent to $41.3 million for the period ended April 2011, compared with the year ago period.

The company expects to use the proceeds from the share sale primarily to reduce debt.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Jefferies were lead underwriters for the offering.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Carol Bishopric)