VTB Group, Russia’s second-biggest bank, raised $8 billion in the world’s largest initial public offering this year, as investors seek to benefit from a lending boom in the former Soviet republic, Bloomberg reported on May 11.

State-owned VTB, which owns about 10 percent of Russia’s banking assets, sold 1.51 trillion new shares for 13.6 kopeks each, near the top of its range, the Moscow-based lender said in an e-mailed statement today.

That values VTB at more than $35.5 billion, more than France’s Natixis and Germany’s Commerzbank.

According to Bloomberg,

The IPO of VTB, formerly Vneshtorgbank, the Soviet Union’s bank for international trade, is the second-largest ever in Russia, trailing last year’s $10.6 billion offering by state oil company OAO Rosneft.

Russian companies have raised more than $20 billion this year in stock sales, approaching last year’s record. AFI Development Plc, the Russian real estate company controlled by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, last week raised $1.4 billion in the biggest IPO ever by a property developer in Europe.

VTB’s stock will begin trading today in London, the first foreign listing for a Russian bank. Shares of OAO Sberbank, the nation’s biggest lender, only trade in Russia. State-run Sberbank, which raised $8.8 billion in a secondary stock sale in February, is valued at $87 billion.

VTB sold depositary receipts for $10.56 each, near the top of its range of $8.77 to $10.79. It had sought between 11.3 kopeks and 13.9 kopeks for its Russian traded shares.

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