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

Emerging markets

Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...

, including Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, the Commonwealth of Independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

 (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

Boris Jordan

Boris Jordan is an American businessman of Russian origin. He speaks both English and Russian fluently.An American of Russian ancestry, Boris Jordan assisted Russia's economic transition to capitalism in the early '90s, assisting in the launch of the Russian stock market and the privatization of...

, and Leonid Rozhetskin

Leonid Rozhetskin

Leonid Rozhetskin is a financier and lawyer who is missing under suspicious circumstances after disappearing from his villa in Jūrmala, Latvia on March 16, 2008.- Early life and education :...

.

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

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

, Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, Accra

Accra

Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...

, Harare

Harare

Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...

, and Lusaka

Lusaka

Lusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is located in the southern part of the central plateau, at an elevation of about 1,300 metres . It has a population of about 1.7 million . It is a commercial centre as well as the centre of government, and the four main highways of Zambia head...

. Renaissance Capital also maintains offices in London, New York, Dubai, and Nicosia.

Renaissance Capital is part of Renaissance Group, which also includes investment management

Investment management

Investment management is the professional management of various securities and assets in order to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of the investors...

, merchant banking, and consumer finance

Consumer finance

Alternative financial services in the United States refers to a particular type of financial service, namely sub-prime lending by non-bank financial institutions. This branch of the financial services industry is more extensive in the United States than in some other countries, because the major...

 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.

History

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

Mikhail Prokhorov

Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov is a Russian billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the American basketball team, the New Jersey Nets. After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute he made his name in the financial sector and went on to become one of Russia's leading industrialists in the...

 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

Volatility (finance)

In finance, volatility is a measure for variation of price of a financial instrument over time. Historic volatility is derived from time series of past market prices...

 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

Barclays Capital

Barclays Capital is a global British investment bank. It is the investment banking division of Barclays plc which has a balance sheet of over £1.2 trillion . Barclays Capital provides financing and risk management services to large companies, institutions and government clients. It is a primary...

in Russia. 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.