Cyber Media, India's oldest information technology-related publishing group, is planning an initial public offering some time in May.
Pradeep Gupta, chairman and managing director of the group, confirmed the development. "We are seriously considering going public. At present, we are studying the market. In a week or so, we will be ready to talk about the issue size and other details," Gupta said.
Cyber Media had also been known to be scouting for a foreign equity partner as it is entitled to obtain foreign direct investment of up to 74 per cent by virtue of being a technical publication.
It also filed an application with the information and broadcasting ministry seeking its consent to publish an Indian edition of the international business magazine, BusinessWeek.
The Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) Cyber Media group was set up in 1982. It publishes nine IT print titles, including Data Quest and PC Quest and manages their websites.
It also operates an IT portal -- Cyber India Online -- with a strategic investment from Intel Capital; and India's oldest IT market research company IDC (India), an affiliate of IDC World Wide.
Other outfits in Cyber Media stable are IT expositions company Cyber Expo, which organises events such as IT.COM and NASSCOM-ICT; Cyber Multimedia, publishers and distributors of CD ROMs; and Cyber TV which produces IT programs for television.
The group also runs a training school for young professionals, called the School of Convergence, and offers content management services across various media platforms.
