|
Equity Capital Markets
Equity Capital Markets (ECM) is a highly strategic function in any investment bank. ECM is the ultimate barometer of demand and the conduit to pricing every deal. Central to achieving the goals of ECM is our ability to execute a transaction; to ensure management is moving efficiently from meeting to meeting, from city to city. At its most basic level, roadshow meetings must be attended on time and run the pre-determined length. Therefore it is paramount that travel time between meetings ("one-on-ones"), is carefully planned to ensure the maximum number of meetings possible while avoiding tardiness.
Not only does this allow the issuer to meet as many quality prospective investors as possible, it reduces the detrimental effects of downtime. In our estimation, most teams perform best when the pressure is on from the first meeting to the very last, every day. The key to this, however, is that management must remain focused and not be concerned with logistics or travel minutiae in any way. Everything is automatic. Our firm is essential to achieve high performance automation.
What we do is beyond the capabilities of an analyst who, in most cases, has never managed a roadshow before. This is not to disparage the thousands of talented analysts who participate in the execution of roadshows - mostly "non-deal" - every year. However, if one considers the implications of flying one's own family around for fourteen days in busy, bustling crowded cities such as Manhattan, trying to make 8 meetings per day and then flying to another city such as Boston, landing at 10 pm only to get up and do the whole thing again the next day at 5 am…even with one's own family, one can see the challenge is considerable.
But things become more acute when an analyst is responsible for the care of a real-life CEO, CFO and IRO on a roadshow.
Some consider us to be in a glamorous business, flying in private jets with top CEOs and bankers on large transactions. But the reality is that we are involved with ensuring the unglamorous side of a roadshow is veiled from management. Some would even call it dirty work, as it is characterized by deviously unexpected pitfalls that can make the traveling team late, or worse. If the CEO loses his luggage it’s a bad day. Our job is purely to manage downside risk.
If you work in Equity Capital Markets, Syndicate or the Roadshow Desk contact Steve Yanor for more information.
top of page -|- home
|
