The Federal Service for Financial Markets said it had authorized the placement abroad of 3.271 million common shares of Sistema-Hals, or 25% of company's charter capital, taking into account an additional issue of 5 million shares registered earlier Thursday.
AFK Sistema President Alexander Goncharuk said in late September that Sistema-Hals planned to float 18% of its stock at an IPO scheduled for November.
"We hope that by that time Sistema-Hals' capitalization will be near $2-3 billion," he said.
The company president said the IPO would be held in London and Moscow, following in the footsteps of other Russian concerns, such as state-owned oil producer Rosneft.
AFK Sistema was founded in 1993. It includes companies operating in such areas as telecommunications, technology, insurance, real estate, banking, retail trade and media. The company's shares are listed on the LSE, the stock market of the Russian Trading System and the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX).
