Modem Media IPO Price Range Raised

The price range for the initial public offering by Internet ad agency Modem Media.Poppe Tyson Inc. has been raised to $13 to $15 a share from $11 to $13, lead underwriter BancBoston Robertson Stephens said.

The increase reflects growing demand for the advertising firm, which provides digital interactive marketing solutions, including Web site design, electronic business implementation and interactive advertising.

The Westport, CT.-based company, owned by the nation’s sixth-largest advertising firm, True North, is offering 2.6 million shares in the IPO.

“This is one of the hottest deals this year,” Ben Holmes, an analyst at ipoPros, a consulting firm in Boulder, CO, told Reuters. “I would not be shocked if the stock will trade at a 20- to 30-point premium,” he added.

“It’s a herd mentality. They are going to run over the cliff,” said David Menlow at the IPO Financial Network in Millburn, N.J. “Investors are tired of hearing that the market is overvalued but then see these (Internet) stocks shoot through the roof. They won’t shy away from it.”