When navigating a volatile political and economic landscape, there is nothing like getting in the same room with people, according to the top corporate access providers for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Citing a “complicated” environment in developed Europe, Camille Lemercier, co-head of corporate and expert access at BNP Paribas Exane, said the big theme over the past year has been the appetite from both corporates and investors for a return to face-to-face meetings.
“Political and security instability in Europe combined with the sharp rises in energy prices have forced both companies and investors to challenge some long-held assumptions, driving a lot of demand for high quality dialogue between management teams and portfolio managers,” she said. “But at the same time, we’ve had to be reactive to changing travel rules post-pandemic, managing investors’ new work from home balance and exploring hybrid options.”
The emphasis on in-person interactions after pivoting to a virtual world during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic is similar in the markets of emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa, according to Camille Asmar, head of equity sales for Europe and Emerging Markets at HSBC. “In one sentence: pretty much ‘back to basics’ in emerging EMEA, in a post-Covid world,” he said.
“[Corporates and investors] want both in-person interactions and to re-connect, in person, between themselves,” he added. “Both parties insist on this and we are here to bridge that interaction through physical reverse roadshows, non-deal roadshows and our flagship conferences globally, for example.”
The corporate access industry — one previously marked by large conferences and road shows and one-on-meetings meetings between investors and management — appears to have not just survived its “trial by fire” of the past two years, but is thriving.
And so are the members of Institutional Investor’s 2022 rankings of the Top Corporate Access Providers for Developed Europe and Emerging EMEA...
To select the members for Institutional Investor’s 2022 Emerging EMEA’s Top Corporate Access Providers, we invited participants in the 2022 Emerging EMEA Research Team and 2022 Emerging EMEA Executive Team Surveys to provide feedback on the firms that provided the best corporate access, overall and on a number of attributes.
From the 2022 Emerging EMEA Research Team survey, representing the buy-side point of view, we received responses from 99 investors at 82 firms. This group rated sell-side firms on a scale from 1 to 5 for the overall corporate access they provided across six attributes: conferences; field trips; logistics; roadshows; team quality; and virtual events.
Each vote was weighted by the voting firm’s Emerging EMEA commission range and the rating awarded to create the rankings. The Corporate Access Leaders table, based on the buy-side view, was calculated by adding together a firm’s overall corporate access scores within each attribute to produce a table of the top ten firms.
From the 2022 Emerging EMEA Executive Team survey, representing the corporate point of view, 77 corporates voted for sell-side firms and third-party providers. Voters were asked to name their top four firms in the following attributes: feedback, investor introductions, nondeal road shows, site visits, and virtual conferences.
Each attribute score was based on the place awarded to the firm. Scores were then aggregated to create the overall result. The Corporate Access Leaders table, based on the corporate view, tabulated each firm’s overall attribute scores to produce a table comprised of the top-ten firms.
The names of those surveyed are kept confidential to ensure their continuing cooperation. Voters are required to meet eligibility requirements, and all ballots are subject to review by II’s Research Operations Group.