Russia's top investment bank eyes global expansion

MOSCOW: Russia's biggest investment bank on Monday said it would take advantage of global financial turmoil to expand internationally after unveiling a partnership with one of Russia's top tycoons.

"We have developed an ownership model and partnership which will give us the capital strength and the liquidity to fully exploit this unique global opportunity," said Stephen Jennings, chief executive of the Renaissance Group.

He was referring to the banking group's deal with the Onexim investment fund of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

Prokhorov said Onexim had bought a 50-percent stake in Renaissance Capital for 500 million dollars (343 million euros) in a deal brought on by Russia's stock market collapse last week.

"We've been negotiating for several months. The problems of the global economy sped up the talks... Together with our partners we are ready for major expansion," including in Western markets, Prokhorov told reporters in Moscow.

Jennings said: "The crisis that we're living through on international markets is without precedent since the Great Depression and the landscape for investment banking has been completely rewritten."

He also said that the subsidiary Renaissance Capital, unlike US investment banks that have been hit by the crisis, did not have "toxic debts," adding: "We have been highly profitable... Our balance sheet is very strong."

Renaissance Capital is looking at expansion in Africa, the Middle East, China, India and the West, said the subsidiary's chief executive Alexander Pertsovsky, adding the bank was now one of the world's biggest remaining investment banks.

As part of the deal, Onexim will also extend an unspecified amount in credit lines to Renaissance Capital to help the firm's liquidity and can nominate three bank board members, said Onexim director Dmitry Razumov.

Prokhorov made his fortune in metals and was estimated by Forbes magazine this year to have a net worth of 19.5 billion dollars (13.4 billion euros), making him the 24th richest person in the world.