Russian equity issuance surged by eight times to $25bn (€18bn) in the first six months of the year outstripping the $18bn raised in the whole of 2006, as companies targeting a London listing accounted for almost half of the country's flotations.

Issuance leapt more than eightfold from $3bn in the first half of last year, as flotations on international markets, chiefly London, accounted for $12bn of the total, according to an analyst report from Moscow-based Alfa Bank.