Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is advising Russian telecoms giant MegaFon on its potential £2.5bn London initial public offering (IPO).

MegaFon, Russia’s second largest mobile phone operator, was taken over this April by AF Telecom – the holding company of Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov. The company has since filed for permission to float a 20% stake, which could be worth as much as $4bn (£2.5bn).