RenCap to focus on Africa
Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank that nearly collapsed during the financial crisis, is launching an operation in Johannesburg as it looks to leverage a pan-African franchise to build one of the world’s leading emerging markets banks.
RenCap will announce on Monday that it has hired Clifford Sacks, a former senior banker at Merrill Lynch, to head up its South African office as it continues to expand amid the nascent economic recovery.
Stephen Jennings Stephen Jennings, known in Russia as the ‘Kiwi oligarch’ The outpost will focus on four key industries – metals and mining, oil and gas, financials and telecommunications – and is intended to serve as a conduit for South Africa-based companies looking to invest in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where RenCap already has a strong presence.
“Our goal is not to be all things to all people,” said Andy Lowe, chief executive of RenCap’s African business.
“The focus on these four industries builds on our existing emerging markets platform in these sectors across research, sales and trading, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions. They are also where we see the strongest demand from clients.”
The Johannesburg office is part of RenCap’s ambitious strategy to rebrand itself as a leading emerging markets player in the aftermath of the crisis, when the bank was forced to sell a 50 per cent stake to Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, as well as to slash 40 per cent of its workforce.
Stephen Jennings, the former Credit Suisse banker who set up RenCap in 1995 and who is known in Russia as the “Kiwi oligarch”, has recently returned as chief executive to spearhead the group’s expansion.
RenCap intends to hire more than 200 people this year, taking its headcount closer to pre-crisis levels.
In South Africa, the bank expects to build a team of about 25 under Mr Sacks.
Following the $2.2bn float by UC Rusal, the Russian aluminium group, in Hong Kong last month, RenCap – a joint bookrunner on the Rusal deal – is expected to do well should other Russian companies look to Asia to list.
The bank is more keen, however, to emphasise its business in places such as Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Zambia, where it expects to eventually have as many as 600 bankers.
Andrew Cornthwaite, deputy chief executive and head of investment banking, told the Financial Times that the bank’s 2010 deal pipeline includes 17 initial public offerings in nine different countries.
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