Frankfurt  - German publishing house Deutsche Fachverlag (dfv) has acquired a 26-per-cent stake in Indian publishing group Images Multimedia, a spokesman for dfv has announced.

"The Indian market is still at the beginning of its development, and offers great growth opportunities," said Rolf Griesbach, spokesman for dfv's management in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

The Delhi-based firm owns nine trade journals, and specializes in fashion and consumer titles, employing some 140 staff. The company's revenues for the 2007-2008 financial year totalled 6.1 million euros.

By comparison dfv publishes ninety trade titles, employs 840 staff and earned revenues of over 133 million euros in the last financial year. It is the one of the largest independent specialised media publishers in Europe.

The firm earned around 19 per cent of its revenues last year abroad. (dpa)