Behind the Velvet Rope

MIFID II正在快速接近，但2018年1月实施的前景略微努力支持欧洲公司的执行团队的需求 - 以及访问这些团队到买边。

For the first time, Institutional Investor’s All-Europe Corporate Access ranking has collected responses from both sides of the corporate access equation: Those buy-side firms that rely on their sell-side partners to provide access to corporate executive teams, and the corporate investor relations executives who want access to the buy side.

In this inaugural iteration of the investor relations poll — which saw 318 participants ranking sell-side firms from the corporate vantage point — Bank of America Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Cazenove tie for first place with four total positions each. Berenberg, Kepler Cheuvreux, and Morgan Stanley tie for third with three team positions.

Events, of course, are central to corporate access, and few do it better than Hamburg-based Berenberg. One standout event is its Pennyhill conference in December in the U.K., which brings together 150 corporations and more than 400 investors from the U.S. and Europe over four days. The conference has a “warm and fuzzy feeling,” says Olivia Lee, global head of corporate access at Berenberg. One of the strategies making Berenberg’s conferences so successful has been to hold events just outside of the major cities rather than in a central location. This discourages attendees from drifting in and out, Lee explains.

But even more than physical events, the key to Berenberg’s corporate access is its strong research, bolstered by the “quick note” system the firm uses, Lee said. After speaking with an investor about a certain stock, salespeople make note of the conversation in an internal system. Berenberg can then suggest to corporate executives where to travel to meet interested investors.

“In a MiFID II environment, that’s going to be crucial,” Lee says of Berenberg’s research data, adding that “that level of detail is lacking at most other banks.”

对于买边的观点，II在565家公司调查了超过1,100名投资者。这些投资者 - 在欧洲股票中统称约47万亿美元的欧洲股票 - 在32个行业的销售方公司，就安排与高管的会议，设立现场访问，托管投资者会议和组织Nondeal路演出。

In a shift from the 2016 edition of the All-Europe Corporate Access ranking, UBS takes the top spot this year, replacing Bank of America Merrill Lynch. UBS has 21 positions, five in first place. Though BofA Merrill slips to second place with 20 overall positions, the firm claims the highest number of first-place teams, with eight. J.P. Morgan Cazenove comes in at third place with 18 total positions.

投资者are increasingly interested in thematic topics such as politics, notes Pilar Rocafort, head of EMEA corporate access and global consumer specialist sales at UBS. The firm hosted panels on such populist trends as Brexit, the upcoming elections in France, and then-president-elect Trump’s likely policies at its November European Conference in London, combining the exploration of these topics with networking between investors and executives.

Additional themes on investors’ minds include cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, says Patricia Lefranc, head of corporate and expert access at J.P. Morgan Cazenove, which has added those discussions to its recent events. “In an increasingly volatile time, investors value macro input,” she observes.

澳大利亚公司BT投资管理全球股市负责人Ashley Pittard赞扬瑞银的“广泛阵容”的会议，并公司在管理层在亚洲时愿意进行电话会议。Pittard补充说，即使来自不同的经纪人，也将是“很好，即使来自不同的经纪人，即使从不同的经纪人中减少了来自澳大利亚的旅行时间。

Ultimately, several of the top-ranked firms in II’s 2017 ranking believe that while the realities of MiFID II are months away, each will continue to see strong demand for access, even as the industry remains “extremely competitive,” according to Lefranc.

Berenberg’s Lee holds the most optimistic view. “MiFID II may be beneficial for us,” she suggests. “[Other] banks will have to drop coverage, but we have no intention of reducing our coverage.”