Russian oil company RusPetro has become the first firm to float on the London Stock Exchange in 2012.

RusPetro, which owns three oil deposits in Western Siberia producing 4,500 barrels of oil a day, is the first initial public offering (IPO) from a Russian firm on the FTSE in six months.

The float raised £162 million, with 121 million shares sold at a price of 134p, valuing the company at around £441 million.

RusPetro had been hoping to raise between £162 million and £227 million at a share price of between 134p and 165p so the result was at the very bottom of its expectations.

After the initial free float of 40 per cent, the shares have begun conditional trading today ahead of formal admission onto the exchange on 24 January this year.

Chris Searle, corporate finance partner at accountancy firm BDO, claimed that it was ‘encouraging’ that a Russian firm could complete a successful IPO, despite being at the bottom of its price range.

Searle explained, ‘It obviously helped that it’s an oil and gas company at a time when the price of Brent crude is still above $110 per barrel.

‘A free float of 40 per cent is also positive at a time when many Russian resource companies have been criticised in coming to market with less than 25 [per cent].

‘I think it’s too early to tell whether the success of RusPetro will open up the London IPO market, but it does seem that investors are turning more to risk assets, such as equities, than they were in the last quarter of 2011.'

Searle added, ‘This IPO also shows that London is maintaining its attraction for IPOs of Russian companies.’