Wall Street Journal Europe
September 4, 2009
By Jason Corcoran
Of FINANCIAL NEWS
Andrei Movchan, the founder and former chief executive of Russian fund manager Renaissance Investment Management, has recruited 20 personnel from the firm he launched to help set up a new wealth management business.
The firm name, Third Rome, alludes to Movchan's previous roles at Renaissance and Troika Dialog and also to what he describes as Russia's third cycle following the 1998 default and last year's banking crisis.
In an interview with Financial News, Movchan said the firm had hired a total of 30 personnel and had already won $200 million in client assets from Renaissance.
He said: ???In the private client world, the conversion rate is usually 100% because people like to stick to advisers they trust. There will be hurdles but expect we will have a very high ratio of clients defecting to us from Renaissance over time."
Movchan had been sole head of RIM from its inception in 2003 to 2007, when Rod Barker was hired from London-based hedge fund RAB Capital to take up the role of co-chief executive alongside him.
Movchan quit in February this year after the disagreement with the founder of parent group Renaissance Capital Stephen Jennings over the strategic direction of RIM. Jennings had wanted RIM to become a diversified asset manager involved in retail, institutional and international funds while Movchan wanted to focus on the high net worth segment.
Third Rome will focus exclusively in discretionary asset management accounts for high net worth clients and will steer clear of mutual funds and pension fund management, which Movchan believes are negligible. Clients will require a minimum of $1 million to invest.
"We are going to focus on discretionary management accounts rather than setting up funds. Clients want liquidity rather than additional legal structures. We will set up funds at a later stage," Movchan added.
Danilo Lacmanovic and Alexander Granovski have both been hired as senior partners of new firm. Lacamanovic worked at Renaissance for almost five years and latterly as a director advising high net worth clients and corporates, while Granovski worked at Renaissance for third years on discretionary client programs for high net worth individuals.
Other arrivals from Renaissance include business development director Dmitry Zhuk and Max Yanpolsky, who has joined as chief operating officer and chief technical officer.
RIM, which focused primarily on high net worth client referrals from Renaissance Capital, had built up client assets to $6 billion by early 2008.
Those assets have since fallen due to client redemptions and a fall in equity valuations. It has assets of $3.6 billion as of January 16, 2009.
Renaissance declined to comment.
Showing posts with label Renaissance Investment Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renaissance Investment Management. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Renaissance Investment's Remaining CEO Is Departing
Wall Street Journal Europe
May 20, 2009
By JASON CORCORAN
Rod Barker, the U.K.-based chief executive of Renaissance Investment Management, is quitting the Russian fund manager at the end of the month.
Mr. Barker's exit from Renaissance follows the departure of his Moscow-based co-chief executive, Andrei Movchan, in February following a disagreement with RIM's parent, Renaissance Group, over the firm's strategic direction.
Mr. Movchan had been sole head of the division from its inception in 2003 to 2007, when Mr. Barker was hired from London-based hedge fund RAB Capital to take up the role of co-CEO. Mr. Barker is to be succeeded by Brian O'Callaghan, chief operating officer of RIM UK.
"I'm leaving with effect from the end of May to pursue other opportunities," Mr. Barker said. "I'm not yet in a position to disclose what I'll be doing."
Renaissance confirmed Mr. Barker's immenient departure.
The exit of Mr. Barker, a regular on London's television social circuit, coincides with a clearout of its top executives. The Renaissance Group, which includes RIM and the investment bank Renaissance Capital, has cut its staff by 40% since the banking crisis hit Russia late last year. Staffing in their London office had been cut to 71 at the end of April, from 151 a year ago.
Mr. Barker, previously head of prime brokerage of Credit Suisse First Boston, was responsible for building RIM's international distribution and the development of funds focusing on the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
RIM, which focused on high-net-worth clients, had built up assets under management to $6 billion by early 2008. Those assets have since fallen due to client redemptions and a drop in stock prices. It managed It had $3.7 billion in assets as of January 1 2009, according to the group's Web site.
May 20, 2009
By JASON CORCORAN
Rod Barker, the U.K.-based chief executive of Renaissance Investment Management, is quitting the Russian fund manager at the end of the month.
Mr. Barker's exit from Renaissance follows the departure of his Moscow-based co-chief executive, Andrei Movchan, in February following a disagreement with RIM's parent, Renaissance Group, over the firm's strategic direction.
Mr. Movchan had been sole head of the division from its inception in 2003 to 2007, when Mr. Barker was hired from London-based hedge fund RAB Capital to take up the role of co-CEO. Mr. Barker is to be succeeded by Brian O'Callaghan, chief operating officer of RIM UK.
"I'm leaving with effect from the end of May to pursue other opportunities," Mr. Barker said. "I'm not yet in a position to disclose what I'll be doing."
Renaissance confirmed Mr. Barker's immenient departure.
The exit of Mr. Barker, a regular on London's television social circuit, coincides with a clearout of its top executives. The Renaissance Group, which includes RIM and the investment bank Renaissance Capital, has cut its staff by 40% since the banking crisis hit Russia late last year. Staffing in their London office had been cut to 71 at the end of April, from 151 a year ago.
Mr. Barker, previously head of prime brokerage of Credit Suisse First Boston, was responsible for building RIM's international distribution and the development of funds focusing on the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
RIM, which focused on high-net-worth clients, had built up assets under management to $6 billion by early 2008. Those assets have since fallen due to client redemptions and a drop in stock prices. It managed It had $3.7 billion in assets as of January 1 2009, according to the group's Web site.
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Renaissance Investment looks to riches of the CIS
Business New Europe
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
September 1, 2008
Andrei Movchan, founding chief executive and co-head of Renaissance Investment Management (RIM), is banking on his bulging Rolodex of rich clients to help his firm emerge from the long shadow cast by its investment banking stable-mate, Renaissance Capital.
RIM, the emerging markets fund arm of the Moscow-based financial group, has racked up $7bn in assets under management since its inception of 2003, with $5bn in assets being generated by its wealth management business, where individual accounts range from $3m-5m.
This significant proportion of high net worth clients is in contrast to the more modest growth in mutual funds, where RIM manages just $200m. Conversely, rival Troika Dialog Asset Management has a total of $10bn in assets under management in retail, institutional and private banking, but just $2bn of their total is generated by high net worth clients.
Having analysed the market and crunched the numbers, RIM's management team have decided to freeze development of retail and institutional funds in Russia and adhere to the dictum: follow the money.
"We now manage about $7bn in total and $5bn from CIS high net worth individuals," says Movchan. "This high net worth market in CIS is represented by just under 90,000 individuals with bankable wealth in excess of $3m. A 20% market share gives us over $50bn which, provided a successful strategy execution, will make us grow 10 times in three to five years." Part of the strategy to grow its Russian and CIS wealth business involves recruiting an additional 120 client advisors over the next two to three years.
Mining wealth
RIM can expect fierce competition in the high net worth bracket. Mid-size Swiss private banks such as Union Bancaire Privée, Julius Baer and Vontobel are beginning to target Russia's rich, while larger rivals Credit Suisse and UBS have been investing in their Russian wealth operations for the past two to three years.
The interest has been sparked by the commodities boom, which has spawned more mega-rich. The number of Russians with more than $1m to invest, not counting the value of their homes, grew by 14% last year to 136,000, according to Merrill Lynch's 12th annual wealth report launched in Moscow in June. "Russian wealth is not inherited, it is newly created so it requires a different logic and different approach," says Movchan. "When we sell leveraged African shares, people buy; but trying to sell American diversified market would fail."
It's this mentality that has led Movchan to conclude that Russia's noveau riche will be happier to invest their money onshore than stuff it in a Swiss bank account. "Switzerland is a safe harbour for people who do not want high returns, but who want their money to be 100% safe," he says. "In Russia, where we have inflation of 15%, returns of 3-5% are not sufficient. I suppose Swiss banks will lose Russian money unless they work like Pictet [& Cie private bankers] who propose active Russian- and frontier-market allocations."
Movchan hopes to serve Russian and CIS investors who are starting to look beyond cash deposits and real estate investment to more sophisticated products such as hedge funds. Russian mutual funds, or personal investment funds (PIFs), are too restrictive to satisfy the needs of wealthy investors, says Movchan, and while there are hopes the government will eventually introduce hedge funds for qualified investors, RIM isn't banking on it. The firm is gradually converting its equity and balanced products into alpha funds, which generate higher out-peformance. "You can no longer satisfy clients' needs by giving them index-related returns," says Movchan. "You need to do something else and we started the alternative products programme three years ago and we now have about $2bn invested in absolute-return Russian products.
With inflation running at about 15%, Movchan says double-digit returns have become an absolute minimum requirement, not a target. In fixed income, RIM's dynamic fixed income fund is posting a return of 18%. "It's not luck or talent, but bottom-up understanding of credit quality, leveraging and exploiting the opportunity of high inflation in Russia," says Movchan. "Double-digit returns are a given, but the question is whether you can do 25% and with alternative products we can do 25%. Certainty grows once you get off index tracking, while the index goes back and forth according to what Putin says."
Starting out
RIM began life with five employees and $4m in assets, and has grown to about $7bn in assets, with approximately 220 employees. Movchan, 39, has played a key leadership role in establishing RIM, but is keen to push the firm to the next level where it can be recognised as a world beater like its investment banking brother.
A key lieutenant within the Renaissance Group, he added a leadership role at the consumer finance arm for a spell last year. Movchan, who holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, joined Renaissance in 1997 from Troika Dialog, where he was an executive director with responsibility for corporate finance and special client operations. Before that, he worked for the commercial bank Rossiysky Credit as department head for financial services and analysis.
Rod Barker joined RIM as Movchan's co-chief executive from the hedge fund RAB Capital earlier this year as part of RIM's expansion into new markets and push for distribution. London-based Barker is responsible for RIM's growing international business in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and its distribution hubs in London, New York, Singapore and Geneva.
http://businessneweurope.eu/story1197
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
September 1, 2008
Andrei Movchan, founding chief executive and co-head of Renaissance Investment Management (RIM), is banking on his bulging Rolodex of rich clients to help his firm emerge from the long shadow cast by its investment banking stable-mate, Renaissance Capital.
RIM, the emerging markets fund arm of the Moscow-based financial group, has racked up $7bn in assets under management since its inception of 2003, with $5bn in assets being generated by its wealth management business, where individual accounts range from $3m-5m.
This significant proportion of high net worth clients is in contrast to the more modest growth in mutual funds, where RIM manages just $200m. Conversely, rival Troika Dialog Asset Management has a total of $10bn in assets under management in retail, institutional and private banking, but just $2bn of their total is generated by high net worth clients.
Having analysed the market and crunched the numbers, RIM's management team have decided to freeze development of retail and institutional funds in Russia and adhere to the dictum: follow the money.
"We now manage about $7bn in total and $5bn from CIS high net worth individuals," says Movchan. "This high net worth market in CIS is represented by just under 90,000 individuals with bankable wealth in excess of $3m. A 20% market share gives us over $50bn which, provided a successful strategy execution, will make us grow 10 times in three to five years." Part of the strategy to grow its Russian and CIS wealth business involves recruiting an additional 120 client advisors over the next two to three years.
Mining wealth
RIM can expect fierce competition in the high net worth bracket. Mid-size Swiss private banks such as Union Bancaire Privée, Julius Baer and Vontobel are beginning to target Russia's rich, while larger rivals Credit Suisse and UBS have been investing in their Russian wealth operations for the past two to three years.
The interest has been sparked by the commodities boom, which has spawned more mega-rich. The number of Russians with more than $1m to invest, not counting the value of their homes, grew by 14% last year to 136,000, according to Merrill Lynch's 12th annual wealth report launched in Moscow in June. "Russian wealth is not inherited, it is newly created so it requires a different logic and different approach," says Movchan. "When we sell leveraged African shares, people buy; but trying to sell American diversified market would fail."
It's this mentality that has led Movchan to conclude that Russia's noveau riche will be happier to invest their money onshore than stuff it in a Swiss bank account. "Switzerland is a safe harbour for people who do not want high returns, but who want their money to be 100% safe," he says. "In Russia, where we have inflation of 15%, returns of 3-5% are not sufficient. I suppose Swiss banks will lose Russian money unless they work like Pictet [& Cie private bankers] who propose active Russian- and frontier-market allocations."
Movchan hopes to serve Russian and CIS investors who are starting to look beyond cash deposits and real estate investment to more sophisticated products such as hedge funds. Russian mutual funds, or personal investment funds (PIFs), are too restrictive to satisfy the needs of wealthy investors, says Movchan, and while there are hopes the government will eventually introduce hedge funds for qualified investors, RIM isn't banking on it. The firm is gradually converting its equity and balanced products into alpha funds, which generate higher out-peformance. "You can no longer satisfy clients' needs by giving them index-related returns," says Movchan. "You need to do something else and we started the alternative products programme three years ago and we now have about $2bn invested in absolute-return Russian products.
With inflation running at about 15%, Movchan says double-digit returns have become an absolute minimum requirement, not a target. In fixed income, RIM's dynamic fixed income fund is posting a return of 18%. "It's not luck or talent, but bottom-up understanding of credit quality, leveraging and exploiting the opportunity of high inflation in Russia," says Movchan. "Double-digit returns are a given, but the question is whether you can do 25% and with alternative products we can do 25%. Certainty grows once you get off index tracking, while the index goes back and forth according to what Putin says."
Starting out
RIM began life with five employees and $4m in assets, and has grown to about $7bn in assets, with approximately 220 employees. Movchan, 39, has played a key leadership role in establishing RIM, but is keen to push the firm to the next level where it can be recognised as a world beater like its investment banking brother.
A key lieutenant within the Renaissance Group, he added a leadership role at the consumer finance arm for a spell last year. Movchan, who holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, joined Renaissance in 1997 from Troika Dialog, where he was an executive director with responsibility for corporate finance and special client operations. Before that, he worked for the commercial bank Rossiysky Credit as department head for financial services and analysis.
Rod Barker joined RIM as Movchan's co-chief executive from the hedge fund RAB Capital earlier this year as part of RIM's expansion into new markets and push for distribution. London-based Barker is responsible for RIM's growing international business in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and its distribution hubs in London, New York, Singapore and Geneva.
http://businessneweurope.eu/story1197
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Troika taps into high growth
Financial News
Jason Corcoran in Moscow and Dawn Cowie
21 July 2008
Russian bank Troika Dialog has made hires for its private banking and derivatives sections as it forecasts revenue growth of 35% for its global business in as little as three years.
Troika has recruited Renaissance Investment Management’s head of wealth management Alexey Ischenko as part of big push in private banking.
Pavel Teplukhin, Troika president and chief executive of its asset management arm, said: “Business is booming. We plan to expand our 20-strong private banking sales team by a factor of 10 within four years.”
Troika manages in excess of $10bn (€6.3bn) in institutional, retail and government funds, while rival Russian bank Renaissance manages $6.5bn mainly for high net worth individuals and has recently lost five of its senior fund management executives. Renaissance said it was formulating a strategy to double assets to $12bn next year by focusing on large mandates from corporate accounts.
Troika has also hired Douglass Welch from Citigroup as head of equity derivative sales and will focus on plain vanilla futures and options products.
Jacques Der Megreditchian, head of investment banking and global markets at Troika, expects this market to grow as products such as futures on government debt and commodity futures are introduced. He said Troika has a 15% to 20% share of the Russian futures and options market.
Jason Corcoran in Moscow and Dawn Cowie
21 July 2008
Russian bank Troika Dialog has made hires for its private banking and derivatives sections as it forecasts revenue growth of 35% for its global business in as little as three years.
Troika has recruited Renaissance Investment Management’s head of wealth management Alexey Ischenko as part of big push in private banking.
Pavel Teplukhin, Troika president and chief executive of its asset management arm, said: “Business is booming. We plan to expand our 20-strong private banking sales team by a factor of 10 within four years.”
Troika manages in excess of $10bn (€6.3bn) in institutional, retail and government funds, while rival Russian bank Renaissance manages $6.5bn mainly for high net worth individuals and has recently lost five of its senior fund management executives. Renaissance said it was formulating a strategy to double assets to $12bn next year by focusing on large mandates from corporate accounts.
Troika has also hired Douglass Welch from Citigroup as head of equity derivative sales and will focus on plain vanilla futures and options products.
Jacques Der Megreditchian, head of investment banking and global markets at Troika, expects this market to grow as products such as futures on government debt and commodity futures are introduced. He said Troika has a 15% to 20% share of the Russian futures and options market.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Lombard Odier hires Russian wealth executive
Financial News
Jason Corcoran
24 June 2008
Renaissance Investment Management's leading wealth management executive is leaving the Russian fund manager to join Swiss private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in Geneva.
Alexander Kotchoubey, who joined Renaissance Investment Management as wealth management head and deputy chief executive, is the fourth senior executive to leave the Moscow firm in six months and follows the departure of its president Ilkka Salonen in May, chief investment officer Daniel Broby in March and the head of its Swiss operation Philippe Magistretti last December.
Kotchoubey will join Lombard Odier in the next couple of weeks as head of international development for Russia and Eastern Europe.
He said: "We are in the process of building a team for the region based in Geneva. Lombard Odier recognises the opportunities of expanding its franchises in emerging markets. They have a very aggressive view of how they want to expand."
Prior to joining Renaissance, Kotchoubey was head of the investment strategy team within Merrill Lynch Investment Wealth Management & Insurance unit in New York. An American with Russian heritage, he also worked as a director at Medley Global Advisors and spent a decade at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
His arrival at Lombard follows the failure of Renaissance to develop a Swiss base for Russian high net worth clients.
Magistretti, head former head private banking at Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privée, was hired to run the business but left after less than a year in charge.
A senior Renaissance source said the Swiss business did not build the wealth unit fast enough and that Kotchoubey's departure was unrelated.
Renaissance Investment Management, the funds arm of Renaissance Capital, was set up it in 2003. It has more than $6bn in assets under management with the majority representing of funds belonging to Russian high net worth clients.
Jason Corcoran
24 June 2008
Renaissance Investment Management's leading wealth management executive is leaving the Russian fund manager to join Swiss private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in Geneva.
Alexander Kotchoubey, who joined Renaissance Investment Management as wealth management head and deputy chief executive, is the fourth senior executive to leave the Moscow firm in six months and follows the departure of its president Ilkka Salonen in May, chief investment officer Daniel Broby in March and the head of its Swiss operation Philippe Magistretti last December.
Kotchoubey will join Lombard Odier in the next couple of weeks as head of international development for Russia and Eastern Europe.
He said: "We are in the process of building a team for the region based in Geneva. Lombard Odier recognises the opportunities of expanding its franchises in emerging markets. They have a very aggressive view of how they want to expand."
Prior to joining Renaissance, Kotchoubey was head of the investment strategy team within Merrill Lynch Investment Wealth Management & Insurance unit in New York. An American with Russian heritage, he also worked as a director at Medley Global Advisors and spent a decade at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
His arrival at Lombard follows the failure of Renaissance to develop a Swiss base for Russian high net worth clients.
Magistretti, head former head private banking at Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privée, was hired to run the business but left after less than a year in charge.
A senior Renaissance source said the Swiss business did not build the wealth unit fast enough and that Kotchoubey's departure was unrelated.
Renaissance Investment Management, the funds arm of Renaissance Capital, was set up it in 2003. It has more than $6bn in assets under management with the majority representing of funds belonging to Russian high net worth clients.
Monday, 25 February 2008
Russia's Renaissance to sign deal with South Korea's Hanwha
Business New Europe
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
February 22, 2008
Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital is to sign a partnership agreement with South Korea's Hanwha Securities to explore ties in asset management and brokerage. A formal agreement between the two is expected to be signed at the end of February.
Renaissance already has investment banking joint ventures with the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland, and Australia's Macquarie, along with an informal mergers and acquisitions tie-up with US bank Lehman Brothers.
Stephen Jennings, Renaissance's founder, last year said the bank could only do a limited number of partnerships. "You can't do a lot of alliances. How many best friends can you have? You can only have a small number," he said.
However, Alexander Kotchoubey, managing director of Renaissance Investment Management, stressed it was the first such arrangement for the group in funds.
The two banks have agreed a memorandum of understanding to work together initially in asset management with a view to developing the relationship further in brokerage activities and investment banking.
"There is a revolution happening in retail capital. People are looking for substitute markets and the Koreans have relaxed their laws allowing investors to look abroad. They have already been investing in Chinese bonds and are now looking for other markets like Russia," Kotchoubey told bne.
The two banks will shortly launch a Russian mutual fund in South Korea and plan to develop hedge funds and wealth management services.
Hanwha, part of one the country's top-10 conglomerates Hanwha Group, was chosen as partner because it already has launched a fund investing in Kazakhstan. Hanwha also hopes to leverage Renaissance's strengths in the Russian market for its own ends. Renaissance is currently developing a full service investment bank located in Kazakhstan's financial capital Almaty.
"We are very bullish about the Central Asian marketplace as is Hanwha. Korean companies such as Samsung have car factories in Kazakhstan and are expanding in the region," Kotchoubey says. "At the moment, the relationship is about investment management but it will develop."
Top South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor is looking at setting up a plant in Uzbekistan. The world's fifth-largest car market already also announced in December it would begin work on a 100,000-unit plant costing $400m in St Petersburg within the year.
Other South Korean companies exploring expansion opportunities in Central Asia include telecommunication giants LG Telecom and SK Telecom, along with Daewoo.
As the largest shipbuilder in the world, Korea has also seen a rising number of orders from clients in the region.
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
February 22, 2008
Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital is to sign a partnership agreement with South Korea's Hanwha Securities to explore ties in asset management and brokerage. A formal agreement between the two is expected to be signed at the end of February.
Renaissance already has investment banking joint ventures with the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland, and Australia's Macquarie, along with an informal mergers and acquisitions tie-up with US bank Lehman Brothers.
Stephen Jennings, Renaissance's founder, last year said the bank could only do a limited number of partnerships. "You can't do a lot of alliances. How many best friends can you have? You can only have a small number," he said.
However, Alexander Kotchoubey, managing director of Renaissance Investment Management, stressed it was the first such arrangement for the group in funds.
The two banks have agreed a memorandum of understanding to work together initially in asset management with a view to developing the relationship further in brokerage activities and investment banking.
"There is a revolution happening in retail capital. People are looking for substitute markets and the Koreans have relaxed their laws allowing investors to look abroad. They have already been investing in Chinese bonds and are now looking for other markets like Russia," Kotchoubey told bne.
The two banks will shortly launch a Russian mutual fund in South Korea and plan to develop hedge funds and wealth management services.
Hanwha, part of one the country's top-10 conglomerates Hanwha Group, was chosen as partner because it already has launched a fund investing in Kazakhstan. Hanwha also hopes to leverage Renaissance's strengths in the Russian market for its own ends. Renaissance is currently developing a full service investment bank located in Kazakhstan's financial capital Almaty.
"We are very bullish about the Central Asian marketplace as is Hanwha. Korean companies such as Samsung have car factories in Kazakhstan and are expanding in the region," Kotchoubey says. "At the moment, the relationship is about investment management but it will develop."
Top South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor is looking at setting up a plant in Uzbekistan. The world's fifth-largest car market already also announced in December it would begin work on a 100,000-unit plant costing $400m in St Petersburg within the year.
Other South Korean companies exploring expansion opportunities in Central Asia include telecommunication giants LG Telecom and SK Telecom, along with Daewoo.
As the largest shipbuilder in the world, Korea has also seen a rising number of orders from clients in the region.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Renaissance's new Africa fund seen capped at $1bn
Business New Europe
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
2007-09-19
Russia's Renaissance Investment Management expects to take in commitments worth $350m from institutional investors shortly after the launch of their new Africa fund on October 1.
The fund manager, which is a subsidiary of Renaissance Capital investment bank, is confident of capping the sub-Saharan equity fund at $1bn in 2008. "We have seen enough interest from fund of funds and institutions that we don't need to seed it. We expect to raise $350m by the end of the year and then we aim to cap it at $1bn next year," Daniel Broby, who was hired as chief investment officer three months ago, told bne.
Prior to Renaissance, Broby was head of investments at Denmark's third-largest asset manager Bankinvest, responsible for the investment process and the day-to-day running of the quoted equity, bond and guaranteed products. He launched Denmark's first and only regulated hedge fund on behalf of Bankinvest in 2005.
Broby said David Damiba, a Wall Street veteran of Merrill Lynch and Madoff Investment, and Kirsten Goliath have been hired to run the fund from London.
Renaissance's Dublin-listed fund, which requires a minimum investment of $100,000, will have strict redemption terms and will be targeted at institutions. A more illiquid and concentrated African fund will be made available to Russian investors shortly.
Flying visit
Broby said Renaissance staff had recently taken 35 managers from multinational investment funds on a 10-day whistle-stop tour of six African countries featured in the fund. Managers have already identified 540 listed companies that are suitable for investing in. Nigeria is the fund's main focus with exposure potentially accounting for 50%, while Kenya and the Francophone countries will make up most of the remaining allocation.
"We are not replicating what Fidelity or Union Bank of Switzerland have done," comments Broby. "Russian investors are different and our clients will expect higher returns than 7% from such funds."
"Our managers are used to delivering in frontier markets, dealing with corruption and lots of paperwork," he adds.
Fund management licenses are being sought throughout the region so Renaissance can open offices for managers and a research team on the ground. The funds team are piggy-backing on the investment bank, which has done two public offerings in Africa in four months. Renaissance is forecasting a capital flight in the near future because of the flat market at home and the impending presidential elections next year.
The group have recently opened offices in Zurich, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong to service the desire of clients to diversify. Renaissance Investment Management currently has $4.5bn in assets under management.
http://www.businessneweurope.eu
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
2007-09-19
Russia's Renaissance Investment Management expects to take in commitments worth $350m from institutional investors shortly after the launch of their new Africa fund on October 1.
The fund manager, which is a subsidiary of Renaissance Capital investment bank, is confident of capping the sub-Saharan equity fund at $1bn in 2008. "We have seen enough interest from fund of funds and institutions that we don't need to seed it. We expect to raise $350m by the end of the year and then we aim to cap it at $1bn next year," Daniel Broby, who was hired as chief investment officer three months ago, told bne.
Prior to Renaissance, Broby was head of investments at Denmark's third-largest asset manager Bankinvest, responsible for the investment process and the day-to-day running of the quoted equity, bond and guaranteed products. He launched Denmark's first and only regulated hedge fund on behalf of Bankinvest in 2005.
Broby said David Damiba, a Wall Street veteran of Merrill Lynch and Madoff Investment, and Kirsten Goliath have been hired to run the fund from London.
Renaissance's Dublin-listed fund, which requires a minimum investment of $100,000, will have strict redemption terms and will be targeted at institutions. A more illiquid and concentrated African fund will be made available to Russian investors shortly.
Flying visit
Broby said Renaissance staff had recently taken 35 managers from multinational investment funds on a 10-day whistle-stop tour of six African countries featured in the fund. Managers have already identified 540 listed companies that are suitable for investing in. Nigeria is the fund's main focus with exposure potentially accounting for 50%, while Kenya and the Francophone countries will make up most of the remaining allocation.
"We are not replicating what Fidelity or Union Bank of Switzerland have done," comments Broby. "Russian investors are different and our clients will expect higher returns than 7% from such funds."
"Our managers are used to delivering in frontier markets, dealing with corruption and lots of paperwork," he adds.
Fund management licenses are being sought throughout the region so Renaissance can open offices for managers and a research team on the ground. The funds team are piggy-backing on the investment bank, which has done two public offerings in Africa in four months. Renaissance is forecasting a capital flight in the near future because of the flat market at home and the impending presidential elections next year.
The group have recently opened offices in Zurich, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong to service the desire of clients to diversify. Renaissance Investment Management currently has $4.5bn in assets under management.
http://www.businessneweurope.eu
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