Renaissance Capital founder Stephen Jennings is retaking his role as chief executive of the Russian firm amid a senior management shakeup. With ambitions of becoming an emerging markets leader across the investment banking spectrum, RenCap is looking to hire 30 more finance pros in the coming months and up to 250 bankers globally over the next year. According to the eFinancialNews, that hiring would bring the firm's headcount over 1,000.
Jennings relinquished his day-to-day job as chief executive in 2007, handing the reigns to Alexander Pertsovsky who will now step down to the position of president and first deputy chief executive. Current president Ruben Aganbegyan, in turn, will be bumped down to second deputy chief executive, according to a statement released by the firm today.
The i-bank says that it wants to be a force to be reckoned with in sales and trading, research, capital markets, and M&A in emerging markets. It recently launched a range of foreign exchange business lines and is looking to strengthen its capital-markets platform with the pending acquisition of Leadbank from the Bank of Cyprus. To further build out its emerging markets FX team, the firm said it expects to add up to 30 new staff across front and back office positions in the coming months, according to a statement earlier this month.
The firm also wants to be a top global contender in metals and mining, and oil and gas. It added two senior executives to its metals and mining team in London earlier this month. Financial News reported today the bank plans to add as many as 250 bankers globally and open several new offices this year.
Jennings's return to the helm marks another part of the investment bank's efforts to become a leader in emerging markets. The firm has made a slew of recent hires and Jennings brings with him another raft of senior executives.
Nick Andrews, a JPMorgan alum in emerging markets equities, was brought in as head of global head of equities.
Mark Harris, who managed compliance in Europe and the Middle East for Lehman for over a decade, comes on board as head of global compliance.
Another Lehman veteran Michael Schulz has been appointed as global head of risk. Schulz most recently ran risk management at Hong Kong hedge fund CQS and previously managed risk for Lehman in Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York.
Write to Yoree Koh