OREANDA-NEWS. June 15, 2012. Renaissance Capital, the leading emerging markets investment bank, has merged its South African and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) research teams and appointed Gerhard Engelbrecht and Nothando Ndebele as co-heads, in addition to continuing to expand coverage of key sectors.

Engelbrecht and Ndebele will have full responsibility for Renaissance’s 26-strong Africa research team, and will continue in their roles as South Africa Oil & Gas analyst and SSA Banks analyst, respectively.

“Renaissance Capital is the first research house to bring its South Africa and SSA capabilities onto one team,” said David Nangle, Head of Equity Research at Renaissance Capital. “The unified structure will provide a further strengthened platform across our key African markets and allow South African and SSA analysts to leverage pan-Africa expertise for our clients.”

To further support its research capabilities in Africa, Renaissance Capital has hired three analysts.

Roy Mutooni has joined Renaissance Capital in Johannesburg as Industrials Analyst. Previously, he was head of Industrials at Deutsche Securities in South Africa.

In London, Rene Kleyweg is joining as Senior Metals & Mining Equity Analyst. Prior to Renaissance, Kleyweg worked at UBS and Merrill Lynch in London, in equity research and sales roles.

Daniel Major has also joined Renaissance Capital’s research team with a focus on global Metals & Mining companies.

In 2012, Renaissance Capital was named African Investment Bank of the Year by African Banker magazine and ranked No.1 overall (unweighted) in Financial Mail’s Analyst of the Year awards. The Firm also took top honours in two rankings in The Banker’s Deals of the Year, for advising on Zambeef’s London IPO and Lusaka listing, and on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s acquisition of Oceanic Bank.