Yell, the UK directories company, has increased the size of its initial public offering to £1.23bn ($1.98bn) after exercising just over half of its overallotment option.

Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs were joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners of the IPO at the beginning of July. It is the largest IPO in Europe since Friends Provident in July 2001, according to Dealogic, the investment banking research company.