Russia’s number-two operator MegaFon has reportedly received the “unofficial green light” from the UK’s stock market regulator, paving the way for it to launch its planned London IPO before year-end.

According to sources at Reuters, MegaFon has “cleared and resolved” any issues with the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) and is expected to make a formal statement on the IPO launch in the coming weeks.

“We intend to complete the IPO this year and that will be on the basis of an approved prospectus from the UKLA,” said a spokesman for MegaFon.

Approval was thought to hinge on billionaire owner Alisher Usmanov putting an acceptable shareholder structure in place.

The operator aims to raise US$2 billion via the listing, which would make it the largest foreign IPO by a Russian firm for over a year.

MegaFon originally planned the offering for October but decided to delay to incorporate its third-quarter results. They were published last week and included an impressive 20 percent increase in net income to hit a record RUB14.9 billion (US$475 million), and a 12 percent rise in sales to RUB71.2 billion.