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Offering a boost to the growing list of Russian companies seeking a reopening of the equity markets as a source of capital, MD Medical Group (MDMG) managed to push through its IPO in London on October 12 at the middle of its range, raising up to $311m.

Russia's leading private health service company, which operates under the brand of Mother and Child, said it expected the sale of new and existing shares to raise $311m, assuming a 15% over-allotment option was taken up by underwriters Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. That would put the company's market capitalisation at around $900m, and offer a free float of about 35%.

Coming in the wake of Sberbank's $5.1bn float of a 7.6% stake in September, the sale looked to leverage the raised interest in Russia in global equities markets recently. MDMG sold its shares at $12 per Global Depositary Receipt. Its success in rising towards the middle of its $11.25-13.50 range will offer encouragement to other potential issuers.

MDMG says it plans to use the funds to widen its network, to build a hospital in the city of Ufa, as well as for corporate purposes. The IPO was also supported by the Russia Direct Investment Fund, a state-backed fund that designed to bolster the country's investment image.

After close to a year of inactivity, a growing number of Russian companies are now coming out of the woodwork to suggest they will seek to raise capital via listings. Early in 2011, a flood of IPO candidates were doing the rounds, but around half of the dozen or so offers ended up on the scrap heap as risk aversion rose in global markets, and investors baulked at price demands and deals that saw owners seek to cash out, rather than invest proceeds in the business.

Other Russian companies will be buoyed, as there are several more IPOs in the pipeline that hope to come to market before the end of the year. Those plans include MegaFon, the only one of Russia's big three mobile operators not currently listed, which hopes to raise as much as $2bn in a London and Moscow offering before the end of the year, as well as Promsvyazbank, which is targeting $400m from an IPO on the same markets.