RenCap reviews panel after Cleary hire in bid to expand outside counsel ranks

Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital (RenCap) has kicked off a review of its advisers, aiming to double its panel to 12 law firms.

The bank has asked around two dozen law firms to pitch for the review, which comes less than a year after the bank appointed its first formal panel last August.

The review is being led from London by executive vice chairman Ashar Qureshi, who joined the bank earlier this year from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. RenCap is due to conclude the review in August and has not set a limit on the length of the panel appointments.

Qureshi commented: "We have been looking at the changed nature of the business and have been seeing more consistent levels of activity as well as expansion into new continents, notably sub-Saharan Africa, and we want to give those specialist firms a chance that we couldn't consider last time due to market conditions."

Current panel members include Herbert Smith and legacy Lovells, as well as US-based Cleary, White & Case, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Latham & Watkins.

The bank has frequently instructed top 10 City firm Simmons & Simmons - which recruited RenCap's former general counsel Konstantin Orlov to lead its Russia law group in 2007 - as well as magic circle firms Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters, all of which have been asked to pitch.

Other firms being considered for the new panel include Baker & McKenzie, which has a strong presence in the Ukraine, as well as local firm Sayenko Kharenko.

Separately, RenCap has kicked off a search for a new GC after incumbant Steven Wootton left the company.

Related:

• Dealmaker: Ashar Qureshi
• Legal Week Corporate Counsel Forum Europe 2010