Bennett,Coleman plans Esops,IPO

Indu Jains Bennett,Coleman & Co is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in India.

Billionaire Indu Jains Bennett,Coleman & Co plans to give stock options to employees in preparation for a potential initial public offering in India in the next two years,said three people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Some senior staff at the Mumbai-based publisher of the Times of India and Economic Times were told about the stock options last week,said two of the people,who declined to be identified because there hasnt been a formal announcement.

Bennett,Coleman chief executive officer Ravindra Dhariwal on Tuesday declined to comment.

An IPO by the publisher of the worlds largest English daily would allow investors to tap revenue growth in Indian newspapers even as US and European rivals face decline in advertising sales.

The countrys newspaper market,which has more readers than the US population,may expand 6.8% annually,PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast last year.

Overall media spends have been pretty buoyant in India,Chennai-based Aashish Upganlawar,an analyst at Spark Capital Advisors,said by telephone on Wednesday. As people spend more on consumption like automobiles,education and real estate,we are looking at higher spends in the smaller towns too, he added.

Bennett,Coleman may compensate employees with cash if the shares arent listed by December 31,2015,according to an internal document obtained by Bloomberg News. The options,which offer employees the right to buy shares at Rs 446 each,will vest over four years from the date of the grant,it said.

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Indias newspaper publishing market,which has 356 million readers,may expand 6.8% annually to $4.1 billion by 2014,PwC said in a report last year. The Times of India has 7 million readers,it estimated.

US newspaper circulations continued to decline in the six months through September,with the average daily circulation for 635 newspapers falling 5% from a year earlier,according to Audit Bureau of Circulations data released in October.