Moscow, February 4, 2010 - Renaissance Capital, the leading investment bank across Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa, announces the launch of new business lines in foreign-exchange, including FX spot trading, FX derivatives and other structured products. The new initiatives, targeted at the wholesale capital markets, will be offered in conjunction with corporate lending and will broaden corporate risk management products and services for the Firm’s clients across emerging markets.

In light of the expanded offerings, Yury Gruzglin has been appointed Global Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC), and will oversee sales, trading and structuring, and underwriting across those product areas. Gruzglin joined Renaissance Capital in October 2008 as Head of the Debt Product Group and in 2009 led the Firm’s debt business to its most successful year in history.

Yesterday, Renaissance Capital signed an agreement with Bank of Cyprus Public Company Ltd. to acquire 100% of the share capital of Leadbank LLC (formerly Bank Kypra LLC) for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of Leadbank, which will be renamed in due course, will provide Renaissance Capital with the necessary platform to offer clients a full range of capital-markets services, including lending and foreign exchange solutions. The acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including approval by the Central Bank of Russia.

Renaissance Capital expects to add up to 30 new staff across front- and back-office in the coming months as it builds out a dedicated emerging markets FX team.

Alexander Pertsovsky, Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Capital, said: “Across the emerging markets where we operate, we see significant demand from corporate clients for a range of structured solutions to optimize the companies’ funding costs and hedge their FX, interest-rate and commodity-price risks. Given our deep company expertise, Renaissance Capital is ideally positioned to make these solutions available to corporate clients in our markets. Foreign exchange products and services represent a significant area of potential growth for the Firm and the moves announced today represent a major step in building a market-leading franchise.”

About Renaissance Capital (www.rencap.com)
Renaissance Capital is a leading investment banking firm in Russia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. Renaissance Capital has market-leading positions in each of its core businesses - M&A, equity and debt capital markets, securities sales and trading, research, and derivatives. Renaissance Capital is part of the Renaissance Group (www.renaissancegroup.com).