BERLIN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- German industrial conglomerate Siemens has published a so-called "Intention to Float" on Monday in preparation for a looming initial public offering (IPO) of its "Healthineers" medical technology division.

Having launched a formal IPO process at the DAX stock exchange in Frankfurt, shares of the highly-profitable business unit could be sold to investors as soon as March.

Analysts expect Siemens Healthineers to achieve a market capitalization of 30 to 40 billion euros (37.2 to 49.6 billion U.S. dollars), earning Siemens between 6 and 10 billion euros.

"Siemens Healthineers is now ready for its stock exchange debut," according to a statement by Michael Sen, chairman of Siemens' supervisory board.

German media cited earlier statements by Siemens' that around 15 to 25 percent of Healthineers shares would be placed on sale.

The medical technology unit hopes to gain more flexibility and easier access to finance through its public listing. However, Siemens also emphasized on Monday that it would remain the majority stakeholder of Healthineers and continue to support its subsidiary in the long run.

The exact timing of the IPO is still unknown and will hinge, amongst others, on the circumstances of global equity markets. Stock prices have been highly volatile in recent weeks, potentially delaying the date of the listing.

Siemens Healthineers achieved total revenue of 13.8 billion euros and an operating result of around 2.5 billion euros in 2017.

According to information supplied by the unit, it is the leading global provider of medical imaging products and the second world's largest supplier of laboratory diagnostics.