Exillon Energy, a Siberia-focused oil company, is aiming to become the first Russian company to list on the London Stock Exchange in the 18 months since the financial crisis caused markets to seize up.

The company, which has its headquarters in Dubai with offices in Russia, is in talks with London-based investors about an initial public offering that could value it at about $500m (€340m).

This compares with the most recent big Russian listing, Globaltrans, the rail freight operator, which raised $449.4m in April 2008.

The years preceding the financial crisis saw a parade of major Russian companies including bank VTB Group and real estate developer PIK Group rush to list in London.

The financial crisis scuppered many Russian IPO plans as a flight of foreign capital and falling commodity prices hurt confidence in the Russian economy.

The market for all European IPOs has only recently begun to thaw – with flotations including PGE, Poland’s biggest electricity generator, which last month raised €2.4bn in Europe’s biggest offering this year.

Investors are expecting further European IPOs as companies take advantage of the stock market rally and reinvigorated investor demand and some believe a number of Russian companies will be among these.

However, any Russian offerings are likely to be much smaller than the multibillion-dollar equity raisings of the boom years, with groups mostly seeking to raise $200m to $300m.

Exillon has appointed Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, ING and Mirabaud Securities as joint bookrunners, according to people close to the deal.

The IPO could be announced this month, according to one person involved, but the timetable “remained fluid”, and the plans could change depending on market conditions and investor demand. Exillon and its banks declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Neil Hume