By Ivan Anderzhanov

Russian investment bank VTB Capital intends to triple its Asian business by launching operations in Hong Kong and expanding further into China, Vietnam and India,  according to a Reuters report.

VTB Capital currently employs about 30 people in Singapore, its only Asian office, which focuses on placing Russian government and corporate debt with Asian investors. It intends to raise that number to 100 over the next three years by expanding into equity capital raisings, trading and M&A.

VTB Capital currently employs about 750 people globally, up from 600 at the start of 2009. The bank has previously said it will boost numbers by 40 percent this year.

By Marcus Williams

Neil Harvey has quit his role as deputy chief executive of the Renaissance Group to return to work for Credit Suisse in building its asset management business in Asia.

Harvey, who previously had spent ten years at Cred Suisse in Hong Kong, will be in charge of developing and executing an expansion strategy in the Asian market for Credit Suisse. The firm already has a sales force in Hong Kong and Japan and two asset-management joint ventures in mainland China.

He will be based in Hong Kong and report to Robert Shafir, chief executive of asset management, and Kai Nargolwala, chief executive of the Asia Pacific region.

Zimbabwe-born Harvey quit Credit Suisse in 2006 to open his own hedge fund before joining the Renaissance Capital a year later to power its move into Sub-Saharan Africa.

By Marcus Williams

A roster of investment banking heavyweights are biting at the leash following the news today that aluminum producer Rusal has concluded a debt restructuring deal on $7.4bn owed to Western creditors.

The agreement should pave the way for an initial public offering of as much as $2.5bn, or 10% of the company. Investment banking fees are likely to stretch into the double-digit millions of dollars for each of these banks.

Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas are expected to serve as lead managers for the IPO.  Bank of America, Bank of China, Renaissance Capital, VTB Capital are believed to have secured book runner mandates.

US bank Goldman Sachs stepped back from a lead manager role last month after expressing reservations about the speed of the deal.

Rusal said it anticipates seeing strong demand from Asian investors. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) will take a stake of up to 3%. Rusal’s supervisory board has already approved acquisition of shares costing about $600m.

The IPO is expected to value the company at approximately $20bn.

The listing committee of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is tomorrow expected to give the green light for Rusal’s IPO following the successful completion of  the company’s debt restructuring.

The long-delayed Rusal listing  is aimed at giving the company breathing space to repay $16bn in debt built up when metal prices were at record highs before last year’s financial meltdown. Rusal has applied for a dual listing in Hong Kong and on Paris’s Euronext.