OREANDA-NEWS. Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, has announced a series of promotions and an appointment in its award-winning global research team.

Michael Harris, previously Head of Turkish Equity Strategy, will lead Renaissance Capital’s award-winning research team as Global Head of Research. He joined the Firm in 2014 and led Renaissance Capital to the top ranking for Turkish Strategy in the 2015 Institutional Investor survey. Most notably, he has been top ranked by Institutional investor 22 times, the highest total among all ranked Emerging Market analysts globally. Over his 22-year career, Mike has also headed BofA Merrill Lynch's pan-EEMEA research team and the EEMEA strategy product. In addition, he is currently an adjunct Professor of Emerging and Frontier Markets with Syracuse University in London.

David Ferguson will become Deputy Head of Research. David has been with the Firm for six years, and has successfully built multi-sector coverage of high-growth sectors and companies in the EMEA region as Head of Consumer, Media and IT. David and team have recently ranked in the Institutional Investor 2015 EMEA Research Team survey in the Consumer, Media and IT categories. David was also ranked among the top three media sector analysts by Financial Mail (SA) in its 2015 Analyst Awards.

The Firm has also appointed Francois du Toit as an Insurance Analyst in Renaissance Capital’s Johannesburg office, starting on 1 October 2015. Francois will report locally to Johann Pretorius, Director, Head of Metals and Mining Research, and globally to Michael Harris, the Global Head of Research.

Francois joins Renaissance Capital from JP Morgan, where he has worked as an Executive Director and Equity Research Analyst covering the South African life and insurance sectors for over 7 years. During that time, he was voted the number one life insurance analyst by Financial Mail in 2010 and has maintained the top position since then. His earlier positions include roles at Barnard Jacobs Mellett, RGA South Africa, World-Wide Re, Liberata and Old Mutual. Francois holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Stellenbosch and a postgraduate diploma in Actuarial Science from the University of Cape Town.

Ben Samuels, Global Head of Equities, Renaissance Capital, commented: “Renaissance Capital continues to grow its global research capabilities, and we are pleased to announce these promotions and a new addition to our high-calibre team. Mike and Dave are both leaders in their respective fields and will work together closely to support the growth of our core business across the Russian, Turkish and South African markets, while also driving the expansion of the Firm’s Frontiers footprint across Africa, CEE and MENA. Meanwhile, Francois’ appointment will further strengthen our team in South Africa and add value to our client offering in the region.”

Renaissance Capital has an award-winning team of 38 Frontier and EEMEA analysts, covering over 320 stocks from a wide range of sectors in 28 countries around the world, including Sub-Saharan and North Africa, Russia, the CEE, Turkey and the Middle East.