Megafon shares made a disappointing debut in London and Moscow after pricing at the bottom end of the range yesterday in another setback for the prospects of a revival in the London initial public offering market.

The Russian mobile operator raised $1.7 billion in the largest London offering of the year, giving Megafon a market capitalisation of $11.1 billion at the start of trading. But the shares lost as much as 3 per cent during the day, closing at $19.60, with the banks having to intervene to stabilise the shares.

The deal had been plagued by weeks of negative publicity after Goldman Sachs pulled out as a lead bank on the IPO shortly before the company was due to start its roadshow, and bankers had to work right up to the wire just to fill the order book before trading began. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)