RenCap Says It’s Taking Africa Equities Market Share From Rivals

Renaissance Capital Africa, a unit of the Russian investment bank controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, said its winning market share in equities across the continent as it chases rivals such as Standard Bank (SBK) Group Ltd.

“In 2011 our market share by volumes traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was 12 percent and Standard Bank’s was 17 percent but in 2012 we caught up,” Clifford Sacks, chief executive officer of RenCap Africa, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Jan. 21. In Kenya, RenCap went from third largest in equities in 2011 to second last year, he said.

RenCap, which doesn’t disclose detailed financial results, began operations in sub Saharan Africa in 2006. Sacks, who had been Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s joint chief executive officer in South Africa, joined RenCap as Africa CEO in January 2011. With a population of one billion people and faster growth rates than many developed nations, banks including BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc are expanding in Africa as they search for new ways to boost profit.

The bank lost three senior members of staff in the past month following Russian Onexim Group’s acquisition of all of Renaissance Capital. Last year the investment bank closed operations in China and India and faced increased competition in South Africa and Russia.

Shareholders remain “very committed to the South African markets and sub Saharan Africa,” John Hyman, joint CEO of Moscow-based Renaissance Capital, said on Jan. 7

To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net