RENAISSANCE Capital, the Russian investment company, plans to increase the capital market, investment banking and fixed-interest operations of the stockbroking business it intends to acquire from Barnard Jacobs Mellet (BJM), itenaissance CEO Stephen Jennings has said.
Earlier this month, Renaissance said it hoped to finalise the acquisition of BJM's stockbroking business for R207m in two months, a deal that formed part of its expansion into Africa.
Renaissance has several businesses, Renaissance Capital, a separate asset management subsidiary; Renaissance Partners, which does long-term investing in assets such as land and forests; and Renaissance Credit, which is a big provider of consumer finance in Commonwealth of Independent States countries.
In Africa, the company operates stockbroking, investment finance and merger and acquisition type businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Its iinvestment financing deals span 20 countries on the continent.
Jennings said the group operated in the mining and minerals, telecommunications, real estate and financial services sectors in the African economy. It recently raised the finance for a new town being built in Nairobi, Kenya, for about 60 000 people.
He said what made Renaissance different in the South African market was its commitment to the country - many of its competitors saw SA as an outpost, with the commensurate level of decision-making power accorded to their South African operations.
"We have to earn our stripes here, we have to invest.
"What differentiates us is we are going to seamlessly integrate our South African business with our Africa and global platform."
Renaissance's growth strategy was squarely focused on Africa, which Jennings believed had much of the same growth dynamics as Asian countries - big populations, a big resource endowment, uncompetitive economies and governments in transition.
Questioned on the possible impact of the euro-zone debt crisis on emerging market economies such as African countries, Jennings said the group viewed the market turmoil in the context of global change in economic power from the west to emerging markets, and in this process "we may see a series of crises that will be quite big and nasty". Five of the top 10 fastest-growing countries were now in Africa, he said.
BJM's securities broking business was SA's largest independent stockbroker.
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