Model agency Wilhelmina to IPO this year: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S.-based modeling agency Wilhelmina is planning an initial public stock offering (IPO) this year, according to a German daily.

Details will be made public within two weeks, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Wilhelmina Chairman Horst-Dieter Esch as saying in a story on its website on Tuesday.

Proceeds from the IPO would be used to acquire other agencies and expand abroad, the paper reported.

German-born Esch bought the agency in 1988 and still owns 50 percent of the company. Financial investor Brad Krassner bought the remaining stake in 1999.

A spokesman for Wilhelmina declined to comment.

Wilhelmina had sales of $60 million in 2007, the paper quoted Esch as saying.

(Reporting by Nicola Leske; Editing by David Holmes)