Russia’s MegaFon Said Set to Hire Banks for $4 Billion IPO

OAO MegaFon, Russia’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, may raise as much as $4 billion in an initial public offering and plans to interview banks as early as this weekend, according to two people with knowledge of the plan.

MegaFon, based in Moscow and partly owned by Sweden’s biggest phone company, TeliaSonera AB, has yet to decide where the listing will take place or set the amount it seeks to raise, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private. While there’s no definite timetable, the IPO could happen as early as this year, said one of the people.