A leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, Exotix Capital, continues to add senior hires in key African markets. Exotix has offices in London, New York, Dubai, Lagos and Nairobi and is a licensed stockbroker on both the Nigerian and Nairobi stock exchanges – and in July rated #1 with 24% market share in Nairobi. The hires, which take immediate effect, add to the strengthening of the team in recent months and new appointments across business lines and geographies to harness growing investor interest in the world’s highest-growth economies.
The past year has seen significant growth for Exotix across Africa’s equity capital markets both in clients and market share. In Kenya, Exotix has been steadily increasing month-on-month this year. In June the firm launched a Research, Analytics and Data division, by Paul Domjan, the former Chief Executive of Roubini Global Economics and Founder of Country Insights.
It has also been expanding its investment-banking reach in Africa, with particular focus on the energy, financial and consumer sectors. On 3 October, Exotix was one of the three deal managers, alongside JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, for the tender offer by Guaranty Trust Bank on its $400 million 2018 Eurobond.
The new appointments are
• Serge Marston, currently Head of EMEA sales at NEX Markets, Serge Marston from NEX Markets as Non-Executive Director on Exotix’s Executive Management Board
• Chiamaka Ezenwa, formerly at Morgan Stanley in London and FBN Capital in Lagos, as the new Head of Investment Banking West Africa
• Mbithe Muema, previously with African Alliance Kenya, is appointed as Head of Equity Sales in Nairobi
CEO Duncan Wales says in a press release: “We are excited to have Serge, Chiamaka and Mbithe on board to help us take full advantage of the opportunity presented by our unique place in the world’s most exciting economies. Serge brings unparalleled expertise from his experience at the cutting edge of financial innovation.”
Marston is Head of EMEA sales at NEX Markets, a division within NEX Group that provides electronic trading technology services in the fixed income and foreign exchange markets. As Non-Executive Director he will work closely with CEO Duncan Wales and Chairman Mark Richards. Prior to joining NEX, he spent 19 years at Deutsche Bank in a variety of roles, most recently as Co-Head of Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities, and e-Commerce Sales in the Global Markets division. NEX Group is a key shareholder of Exotix.
Ezenwa will be working with Andrew Moorfield (Natural Resources) and Fabrizio Ferrero (Financial Institutions), co-heads of Investment Banking at Exotix, and Esili Eigbe, Head of Equities, Africa, based in Lagos, to expand business in West Africa. She had previously spent 6 years at Morgan Stanley in London with primary focus on equity capital markets for Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK and Northern Europe, and the past 4 years in Lagos at FBN Capital, the investment-banking subsidiary of FBNH, Nigeria’s largest bank by total assets, most recently as Head of Equity Sales. She has originated and executed a variety of transactions across jurisdictions for international and Nigerian corporations.
According to Ferrero: “Chiamaka’s appointment enhances our investment bank offering in West Africa and overall in Sub-Saharan Africa through her extensive experience and relationships in the local markets. I am confident she will be a valuable addition to our team and further expand Exotix Capital’s investment banking footprint in the region.”
Muema was previously Head of Institutional Sales at African Alliance Kenya, where she was largely responsible for building the company’s local client base in the Nairobi office. She will lead Equity Sales further boosting Exotix’s position. She had previously worked at Renaissance Capital and Equity Bank as a research analyst and is currently on the board of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority in Kenya in a non-executive role, where she steers the business development committee. She will work closely with Eigbe and Debbie Rees, Global Head of Equity Sales.
Eigbe commented: “Mbithe has the necessary experience of markets in the region to support our commitment to expand Exotix’s business in Kenya and the wider region.”
Earlier in October Exotix appointed Matthew Pearson, former Head of Equities at ICBC Standard Bank, as Global Head of Equities, joining the firm’s Executive Committee, and Christopher Dielmann, formerly Research Analyst in the International Monetary Fund’s Strategy, Policy & Review Department, as Senior Economist with responsibility for markets including Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam.
Other new additions to the team include Rafael Elias, formerly Head of Emerging Markets Research and Strategy for Fixed Income at Cantor Fitzgerald, returning to Exotix to continue his core focus on Latin America as Corporate Credit Analyst, and Rex Nowell, who has successfully directed independent research sales and account management teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia for the past 20 years, most recently for Roubini Global Economics, joining Exotix in New York as Managing Director for New Client Development.
Exotix has also been expanding financials research with the hire of three new analysts last month inlcuding Temitope Ode, previously an analyst at Sankore Global Investments and before that at Goldman Sachs, joining Exotix’s Lagos office to cover financial companies. Faith Mwangi, formerly Senior Research Analyst at Genghis Capital, covering banking and media, and prior to that Investment Analyst at Standard Investment Bank, covers financials in East Africa after joining in August.
Exotix Capital says it “provides the most comprehensive and integrated cross-asset platform to penetrate the full capital structure in frontier and emerging markets.” Its analysts cover over 160 companies, more than any other frontier-markets firm, in emerging Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas. It is specialist in equity and fixed-income markets and the Exotix advisory team provides the full range of investment-banking services to companies, financial institutions, investment funds and governments. These include strategic advisory assignments from debt capital to private equity fund raising.
