BANK ZENIT, one of the most rapidly developing Russian banks, is gearing up for a dual London-Moscow listing next year, which would raise about $500m (£245.4m) on the public markets.

Bankers at JP Morgan and UBS are advising on the float. The bank’s equity is thought to be worth about $1.8 billion.

It ranks among the 15 largest national lending and financial institutions in Russia, and its council of directors is chaired by its founder, Alexey Sokolov.

The bank’s major partners and clients include oil producing and trading companies, as well as metal, mechanical engineering, defence, power, and telecommunication industries, foreign trade associations, gold producing companies and regional-municipal authorities.

It is also in the process of building a retail-banking division offering mortgages and car loans. The bank indicated earlier this year that it was eyeing a 2007 float, but it was postponed because of the volatile market conditions.

Bank Zenit will join a queue of former Soviet bloc companies heading for the UK stock market. Last weekend, The Sunday Times revealed that LSR, one of Russia’s biggest property groups, was planning a listing. It also emerged recently that Russian mining company, Uralkali plans to list in London.

One of the largest to date has been Rosneft, the oil company that co-listed in London last year, amid much controversy. Meanwhile, VTB, the Russian bank, raised $8 billion in May.

Rusal, the Russian aluminium giant, had planned a $9 billion London float, but that has been put on hold because of recent stock-market turmoil.

There is growing concern in some corners of the City about the quality of recent Russian listings. Earlier this year, John Thain, chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, warned fellow exchanges against accepting international listings from countries from the former Soviet Union because of the lack of adherence to corporate-governance rules.

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