People: Raggett welcomes Moscow allies

As he savours helping the London float of a £250 million US-quoted oil and gas company, Simon Raggett, chief executive of corporate finance adviser Strand Hanson, says he is looking forward to working with the firm’s new ‘strategic adviser’, Russian-based Renaissance Capital. Raggett, 36, who led Strand’s buy-out last year from its founders, insists that Mayfair-based Strand Hanson, chaired by 1980s takeover king James Hanson’s son Robert, will make a ‘natural fit’ with Moscow-headquartered Renaissance, headed by co-founder Stephen Jennings, a former Moscow chief of Credit Suisse, and Russian financier Alexander Pertsovsky.

With 1,200 staff, Renaissance, which has links with Russian investment group Onexim, can help provide market power for Strand Hanson, a niche house with particular strength in natural resources. ‘We have complementary offerings,’ explains Raggett. ‘We have recently worked both with and on the other side to Renaissance.’

Renaissance, which was last year’s number one adviser on equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, has taken a 9.9 per cent stake in Strand Hanson, founded in 1993 by veteran investment banker Richard Fenhalls, which led the field as nominated adviser to oil and gas companies. ‘We shall pitch jointly for business, but not for every deal,’ says Raggett, ‘and we have revenue-sharing arrangements in place.’