The last 12 months have been tough for investment banks in Russia. Just as capital markets were starting to shake off the effects of western sanctions and economic slowdown, another round of sanctions – this time on individual oligarchs – stopped them dead in their tracks.
It also cast a further chill over the already lackluster M&A market, says Ruslan Babaev, co-chief executive at Renaissance Capital.
“International buyers who are looking at Russian companies are taking much longer to finalize deals than previously,” he says.