East African Business Week

Kampala, Uganda --  First Renaissance Securities formerly Renaissance Capital Uganda will  officially engage more into investment banking.
The firm that was a member of the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) and providing brokerage services will now venture into investment advisory on issues of mergers and acquisitions, raising capital through debt and equity and corporate finance among others.
In two notices from the USE and the Capital Markets Authority it was confirmed that as of November 30th, the firm would no-longer be doing brokerage services in Uganda. The restructuring of First Renaissance comes at a time when the equity market is slow down in the equities market with the absence of enough liquidity. Trading volumes and the value of some stocks has slumped due to the current economic jitters. At the exchange, traders have been going days without trading or making any deal which is not sustainable for a company that is streamlined to conduct such business. The long term strategy was for the firm to shift its gears to an area it sees potential for growth without hedging so much risk.
However the Africa's growth potential especially with the presence of private equity funds then First Renaissance Securities is placing itself at the forefront as an investment advisor.
The equities market is still on a path to the levels that governing council wants and is also volatile but with investment advisory it's a whole new aspect.
Besides that, First Renaissance would be placing itself at the forefront as an advisory to investors who seek to invest in Uganda. The firm is now also licensed to carry out research notably on sectors of the economy that would be of interest to investors. These range from listed companies, banking and overall economic projections in the real-estate sector.  
The First Renaissance exit leaves eight brokerage firms and becomes the second major firm to exit trading in a space less than 2years.
 More than a year ago the largest brokerage firm in Uganda then MBEA was suspended by the Capital Markets Authority for failing to comply with capital requirements.
The remaining firms include African Alliance, Crested Stocks and Securities, Crane Financial Services, Dyer and Blair, Baroda Capital Markets, UAP Financial Services, CFC Stanbic Financial Services.