Renaissance Group launches Gulf operations

The office will be headed by Ahmed Muallah, managing director and head of Middle East, and CEO of Renaissance Group (Dubai) Limited. He will be responsible for the roll-out and development of Renaissance’s investment banking and asset gathering activities in the Middle East.

“Renaissance Capital, our investment banking arm, is the first firm specialising exclusively in frontier markets to establish a presence in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) market,” said Muallah. “The Gulf has a long track record in investing in emerging markets and the opportunity for a firm such as ours – with a strong track record in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa – is huge. The Dubai International Financial Centre is an ideal base from which to develop our regional operations.”

Renaissance Capital, the leading independent investment banking firm for the CIS, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, holds top-three rankings in both research and equity capital markets in emerging Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Renaissance Group began operations in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2006. It has created Africa’s leading financial services platform, establishing pan-regional investment banking, trading, research and asset management operations through its offices in Accra, Harare, Johannesburg, Lagos, Lusaka and Nairobi. The group has already invested around $800 million (Dh2.95bn) in Africa, including a stake in ETI, a leading West African banking franchise.

It led the $300m equity offering by Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa in April 2007, the $300m equity offering by Nigeria’s Access Bank in July 2007 and the $60m AIM listing of LonZim in December 2007.

The number

$800m