If Yandex can mull a $2 billion IPO, so can Mail.ru: the Russian online portal Mail.ru is planning an IPO on London’s stock market which will value the business at $2 billion, reports local business daily Kommersant, picked up by Yakov here. The company, in which Naspers, the South African media giant, holds a 33 percent stake, is talking to Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse on the IPO, the story says. It wanted to proceed with the IPO ahead of its competitor Yandex. The company says Mail.ru is the biggest e-mail provider in the country, and it generated some $40 million revenues in 2007, of which $30 million came from display advertising, the story says.

• Naspers Acquires 30 Percent Of Russian Portal Mail.ru For $165 Million