OAO Bank Uralsib is getting ready to launch an IPO or to sell its shares immediately to a strategic investor next year. The bank is willing to offer its investors as much as a blocking shareholding in the business. At the start of the week, the bank representatives brought the issue up at their meeting with some western investment banks in London, RBC daily reports.

The newspaper quotes its source in the bank as saying that as many as eight applications for the shares have already been placed by the world’s leading investment banks, including one by JP Morgan. Two lead managers will be chosen through a ‘beauty contest’ and will be made responsible for selling a share of Uralsib.