Expand your business with institutional investor support

Discovering new capital opportunities by building rapport with institutional investors.

As a business owner, you may be interested in expanding your operations with the support of additional outside investment. It’s an integral part of investor relations, and a path you may determine is worth exploring at some point in your organization’s future. Corporate access, at its core, connects corporate executives with institutional investors. A team of covered equity research analysts and sales and trading professionals bring corporate clients to the attention of qualified and interested investors. It’s important to note that corporate access is usually meant for public companies, however private companies can participate if taking part in a deal or sponsored by a bank.

Through one-on-one meetings, non-deal roadshows, investor field trips and other conferences and events hosted by covered analysts, the aim is to identify and target institutional investors for companies. This allows organizations to discover new capital opportunities and gather feedback from potential investors.

Tactical support for strategic relationships

A dedicated corporate access program not only takes care of the logistics for meetings between management teams and potential investors, but the team members also possess the in-depth knowledge of both and therefore can make strategic matches they think will be mutually beneficial.

Corporate access teams rely on events so that your management team can meet multiple investors at once. This helps make the most of your time – and potential investors’ – and ensures attendees are focused on the meetings at hand instead of being pulled in multiple directions as they would during any given week.

Regardless of what next steps come from the meetings, businesses’ investor relations efforts can benefit from participation in corporate access programs in the long term. Building relationships with investors over a period will help them build trust, realize potential and witness growth in your organization. According to a study by IR Magazine, it takes an average of just under four meetings with a company before an investor takes a position in it.

Another benefit is that you can gain valuable knowledge about how your business is perceived and what improvements you may want to prioritize based on investors’ feedback. It can help you determine where your management team should focus their efforts, time and energy – to build a stronger business and attractive investment.

How connections are made

There are a variety of ways corporate access teams connect the C-suite to potential investors, and every organization is going to approach these introductions differently. There are in-person conferences, virtual meetings, site visits, one-on-one meetings, investor days, roadshows, and many other opportunities. The progression of these meetings may also differ based on the strength of interest in prior meetings.

While corporate access programs have traditionally relied on in-person conferences and meetings, the pandemic flipped that on its head and the industry had to quickly pivot to virtual events. While a hybrid approach has been in place, recent research found almost 60% of investors say they are more engaged by in-person meetings than by virtual ones. Even more telling is that investors cited needing more virtual meetings than in-person meetings before deciding to invest in an organization.

Physical events are preferred because they give investors the opportunity to see and feel what a company is doing. They allow investors to experience some of the intangibles of an organization that give it a competitive advantage.

Tips for meeting with investors

If you’re planning on meeting with institutional investors, through corporate access programs or otherwise:

• Be mindful of time constraints and aim to keep investors engaged rather than overwhelmed by information.
• Don’t try to sell your product or service; instead, focus on why your company is a good investment.
• Be prepared to answer hordes of questions – from financial and operations to competition and succession.
• Remember, an investor is looking to uncover vulnerabilities, so be confident in your business and responses.
• Be open to feedback from investors after meetings, regarding both your business and the meetings.

Corporate access is a growing function and one that many companies realize is now necessary. There should be a more deliberate approach to giving investors access to organizations to make the process more efficient, and companies can rely on their corporate access teams to make this a reality.

Sources: fastercapital.com; sustainable-ir.com; irmagazine.com; hbr.org; linkedin.com; hbr.org; irmagazine.com; irmagazine.com