Renaissance boss moves into 'post-crisis' mode
The co-founder of Renaissance Capital has attempted to draw a line under a dramatic year for the Russian investment bank in which it was forced to seek an emergency $500m (€349m) investment and lay off hundreds of staff as the country’s markets were battered over the past year.
In a memo to staff last week, seen by Financial News, Renaissance Group chief executive Stephen Jennings said the firm was now “fully in post-crisis mode” and would “benefit greatly” from its experiences of the last year.
The memo comes 10 months after Renaissance was forced to sell a $500m (€349m) stake in itself to billionaire Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov as it fought for survival in the wake of a crash in the Moscow market.
Following Prokhorov’s investment Renaissance cut hundreds of jobs as it sought to reduce costs. However the resurgence of the Russian market this year, which has regained all last year’s losses has put the firm on a stronger footing.
Jennings wrote: “As always opportunities come with uncertainty and risk. The magnitude of the global changes in front of us suggests that uncertainty and volatility may be especially high in the future. Perhaps the major lesson for us from the last cycle is that long-term, sustained success requires continual diligence and management commitment to managing risk, liquidity and compliance.”
In recent months, Renaissance Capital, the investment banking arm has picked up several major mandates, including leading a Rb 20bn (€443m) bond for Russian communications and technology company Sistema and advising oil producer Gazpromneft on acquisition of a 16% stake in Sibir Energy.
Two weeks ago Renaissance said that its joint infrastructure fund with Australia’s Macquarie had reached its first close raising $530m with Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank signing an agreement to become a cornerstone investor.
In a section on entrepreneurship in his memo Jennings wrote: “We are entrepreneurs. Tough, pragmatic professionals driven by independence, intuition and opportunity. With the urge to build and get things done. World-class professionals who are insightful, ingenious and resourceful. And, just a little bit competitive.”
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