Russian ECM specialists off the menu - or are they?

Despite burgeoning Russian IPO activity, some recruiters report limited demand for Russian-focused ECM professionals among larger banks in the City.

"Russian investment banking teams are understaffed," says Julian Bell, a director at search firm Sheffield Haworth. "But when it comes to equity capital markets, there are only one or two Russian specialists in London. Most Russian work is still done by broader teams covering Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East."

Rupert Fordham, chairman of search firm Morgan Hunt, agrees. "Most US banks don't yet feel that the volume of work coming out of Russia justifies a specialist team."

The London Stock Exchange dominates the market for Russian listings. 2.7bn of initial public offerings (IPOs) in London originated from the country in 2005.

Despite recent jitters, that figure looks set to be far exceeded in 2006. Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil company is about to complete a controversial listing on the London Stock Exchange with the aim of raising as much as 6.3bn. And Comstar, the Russian technology company, raised a combined total of 2.7bn by listing on the LSE in January, for example.

Some banks do appear to be building a Russian-focused ECM presence in London, however. Morgan Stanley, which last year topped the league tables in the Russian IPO market, is understood to have recently hired Anastasia Bloom, a senior capital markets banker from Moscow-based United Financial Group, to work in its London office.

Roman Nasirov, a consultant at the GRS Group in London, says both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch are in the market for hiring ECM specialists with Russain experience, and that Goldman and JPMorgan already have Russia-focused teams in place: "The market is bcoming more and more sophisticated - two years ago there was less need to set up specific Russian teams, but banks are now starting to do so."