Tuesday 24 June 2008

RenCap doubles employee levels

Financial News

Jason Corcoran in Moscow and Tara Loader Wilkinson
23 June 2008


Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has more than doubled its workforce over the past 18 months and is still hiring, while many of its rivals have been cutting jobs to save costs.

Staff numbers at the bank, which specialises in emerging markets including Russia and sub-Saharan Africa, have grown from 500 at the start of last year to about 1,200 as of last week.

The bank said: “We have identified huge opportunities to create value in a range of frontier markets around the world, and that has led us to recruit talented people to pursue those opportunities and meet our aggressive targets. We have grown rapidly in the past year or two, against a backdrop of downsizing by many of our competitors.”

The bank is opening a distribution hub in Singapore and has hired Merrill Lynch’s former head of Asian equities, Martin Gillott, to run it. The operation will act as a distribution base for Renaissance Group products, focusing on institutional securities and international equity sales.

Renaissance, which was founded 13 years ago, joins Russian rivals Troika Dialog and VTB Bank in setting up operations in Singapore and trying to develop links with its investment institutions there.

The bank is also applying to Singapore’s regulator for a banking licence and may extend the office’s remit depending on demand.

Gillott, who joins Renaissance as managing director and head of distribution Asia, quit Merrill Lynch last year and returned to London.

The bank recently launched an operation in Dubai for the roll-out and development of investment banking and asset gathering activities in the Middle East. It also has distribution hubs in London and New York.

Renaissance last week advertised to hire directors, vice-presidents, associates and senior analysts in investment banking, for positions based in Moscow and Kiev, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and in Lagos, Nigeria.

Renaissance declined to say how many staff it was looking to hire.

No comments: