Bear, Stearns has decided to go public.

Bear, Sterns and Co., Wall Street’s second-largest privately owned brokerage firm, has decided in principle to sell stock publicly within two months, Chief Executive Alan Greenberg said. Greenberg said the company was considering either an offering of common stock or a combination of stock and interest-paying debentures. He refused to specify the amount of debt securities that would be offered but said that probably 15% to 20% of the firm would be sold. Bear, Stearns has about $545 million in capital but said in July that it was considering several options for raising more capital, including a sale of stock to the public. In terms of capital among private brokerage firms, Bear, Stearns ranks second only to Goldman, Sachs & Co., with $860 million.