OAO RBC Information Systems, which operates a newswire and a business TV channel in Russia, said its board approved offering shares in depositary receipts to encourage trading and attract international investors.

Moscow-based RBC is among at least six Russian companies since October to create or seek to set up programs allowing their shares to trade outside the country. The approval will let a wider group of investors buy RBC shares, as some foreign money managers aren't allowed to own domestic shares of Russian companies.

"The company expects the depository receipts program to increase the liquidity of its ordinary shares and enhance visibility, as well as create stronger name recognition and understanding of RBC in the international marketplace,'' the company said in a statement issued by Business Wire.

The company will ``consider the possibility'' of listing its stock on European exchanges if the program is a success, RBC's statement said.

Russia is considered a non-regulated market by such countries as Luxembourg, one of the main centers for European mutual funds, said John Coast Sullenger, who manages about $500 million in assets at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in Geneva. Russia has no law defining insider trading and has never prosecuted anyone for such an offense.

RBC raised $28.5 million from a secondary stock sale in June to fund acquisitions, boosting the percentage of the company traded on the market to 36 percent.

Shares of RBC have advanced 29 percent in ruble terms on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange compared with a 5.9 percent rise for the Micex index. The shares rose 0.6 percent today to 74.81 rubles valuing the company at 8.60 billion rubles ($309 million).

OAO Irkut Corp., a Russian maker of Sukhoi fighter planes, started offering American depositary receipts, or ADRs, this month. OAO Kalina, the nation's largest cosmetics maker, last week received approval from the market regulator to have its shares trade abroad in the form of ADRs.