| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
| Key people | Stephen Jennings, Group CEO Alexander Pertsovsky, CEO Russia Hans Jochum Horn, Group Deputy CEO Andrew Cornthwaite, Deputy CEO/Head (Investment Banking), Clifford Sacks, CEO Africa Yvonne Ike, CEO West Africa Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chairman Emeritus, West Africa Soji Solanke, Junior Analyst, Sub-Saharan African Banks |
| Products | Investment Banking |
| Website | www.rencap.com |
Renaissance Capital is a leading investment banking firm that operates in high-opportunity emerging markets. It is a top-ranked investment bank for M&A, equity and debt capital markets, as well as securities sales and trading. Renaissance Capital focuses exclusively on emerging markets, including Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and sub-Saharan Africa. The company was founded in 1995 by a group of founding partners, including Stephen Jennings, who is today CEO of Renaissance Group, as well as Boris Jordan, and Leonid Rozhetskin.
Renaissance Capital is unique in that it has no "home office", but rather its businesses are run from the markets it serves. Specifically, the firm's offices are in Moscow, Kiev, Almaty, Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Harare, and Lusaka. Renaissance Capital also maintains offices in London, New York, Dubai, and Nicosia.
Renaissance Capital is part of Renaissance Group, which also includes investment management, merchant banking, and consumer finance businesses. Renaissance Group is a partnership wholly owned by the firm's management.
The firm may buy or start a brokerage in Egypt that would also cover Morocco and Tunisia and also plans to move into Angola, Uganda, and Rwanda in 2011.
On September 22, 2008, ONEXIM Group bought a 50% stake in Renaissance Capital for $500 million (US) dollars following the issuance of new equity. Renaissance Group will hold 50% plus one share of the voting rights at Renaissance Capital. This transaction is subject to regulatory and other approvals. Renaissance Group's holdings in Renaissance Investment Management, Renaissance Partners, and Renaissance Credit remain unchanged. In September 2008, Mikhail Prokhorov purchased a 50% (minus one share) stake in Renaissance Capital.
On September 23, 2008, Fitch a financial rating company has downgraded Renaissance Capital's individual rating to D from C/D and changed the outlook on the bank's long-term issuer default rating to negative from stable. The move comes after Renaissance said Monday that it will sell 50% minus one share in itself to Russia-based Onexim Group in return for an injection of new equity of $500 million. "Fitch views this as a defensive sale at a time of substantial market volatility in Russia and internationally, and when pure investment banks like Renaissance Capital have become increasingly exposed to market sentiment and whim," the ratings agency said. The negative outlook reflects the medium- and longer-term earnings and risk management challenges facing a business that is still very reliant on the markets and investor sentiment towards Russia, Fitch said. The cash injection by Onexim has reduced immediate liquidity risk, but this is likely to be the main area of management focus in the near term.1 Reference, Polya Lesova, MartketWatch a Dow Jones Company, September 23, 2008.
In September 2009, Renaissance Capital Deputy Chairman Robert Foresman left the firm to become Managing Director/Head of Investment Banking/Country Manager at Barclays Capital in Russia.[1] In July 2010, Renaissance paid 207 million rand ($27 million) to acquire Barnard Jacobs Mellet Securities Ltd., the South African stock brokerage. Africa, which accounts for a quarter of RenCap’s investment-banking business, and other non-Russian activities will generate more than 50 percent of revenue within two to three years.