FriendFinder, which operates more than a dozen Web sites aimed primarily at people looking for relationships or flings, changed its name 18 months ago from Penthouse Media Group. It isn’t profitable, and until recently was in default on its debt covenants.

It struck a deal in October with its creditors to waive its defaults in exchange for all the money it raises in its initial public offering.

It is hoping for $200 million in net proceeds from the sale of 20 million shares through RenCap Securities and Ledgemont Capital Markets LLC, according to its prospectus, with an estimated price range of $10 to $12, and a listing on the New York Stock Exchange with symbol FFN.

The company is portraying itself as a potential catch in the social-networking industry, a sector that has few stand-alone stocks and a lot of buzz. It describes itself as a leading “social networking and multimedia entertainment company,” and in prerecorded roadshows compares itself with privately held Facebook Inc. and MySpace, owned by News Corp. (NWS), publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

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Penthouse Media Group has acquired Various and its more than 25 “Friendfinder” social-networking sites for a reported $500 million. Among the company’s properties, pop-up purveyor Adultfriendfinder.com (“The World’s Largest Sex & Swinger Personals Community”), Italianfriendfinder.com (“The Italian Way of Love!”) and Bigchurch.com (“Bringing People Together in Love and Faith”).

Taken together, the Various sites have a membership base of more than 260 million, with roughly 1.2 million subscribers who pay up to $50 a month for their services. And the company is rumored to be raking in “hundreds of millions of dollars” in annual revenues. Seems Penthouse got itself quite a deal.