OREANDA-NEWS. January 18, 2012. Renaissance Capital, the leading emerging markets investment bank, has appointed Rob Edwards as Chairman of its Metals & Mining Group, within the Firm’s Investment Banking and Financing (IBF) division.

For nine years, Mr. Edwards has served as Renaissance Capital’s leading metals & mining research analyst. He has been recognised with numerous awards for his sector expertise, and for his key role in building out the Firm's natural resources franchise.

“After spending nearly 10 years building the market’s best emerging market-focused mining research team, Rob’s experience will be invaluable in setting Renaissance Capital’s metals & mining strategy and in discussing strategic issues with key clients in all our geographies,” said Andrew Cornthwaite, Deputy CEO of Renaissance Capital and Co-Head of IBF.

The Renaissance Capital Metals & Mining Group has on-the-ground sector expertise in more than 10 geographies across Russia, the CIS, Asia and Africa. In 2011, the team advised on a number of groundbreaking transactions, including the IPO of Russia’s PhosAgro on the London Stock Exchange; a follow-on offering for Mechel on MICEX-RTS; Essar’s acquisition of Zisco, in Zimbabwe; the IPO of First Quantum Minerals Ltd on the Lusaka Stock Exchange; the IPO of China Polymetallic and the listing of South Africa’s Taung Gold on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In his new position, Mr. Edwards will report to Mr. Cornthwaite and John Hyman, also Co-Head of IBF at Renaissance Capital. Management of the sector research team has been assumed by Matthew Whittall, who has been named Head of Metals & Mining Research.

Mr. Edwards has led multiple metals & mining analyst rankings for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa by Institutional Investor and Thomson Extel. He has been closely involved in more than 20 equity capital markets transactions, as well as numerous private and principal deals in the sector, since joining Renaissance Capital in 2002. Prior to Renaissance Capital, he was responsible for precious metals research as well as managing broader resources research for HSBC Investment Bank (formerly HSBC James Capel) across Southern Africa as Director of Metals & Mining Research, based in Johannesburg.

Prior to this, Mr. Edwards worked in production and new business roles within the mining industry. He graduated from the Camborne School of Mines with an Honours degree in Mining Engineering (ACSM).