Singapore has taken the top spot as a roadshow destination for Asian companies for the first time since IR Magazine began tracking global roadshow trends in 2011. The city takes the crown from Hong Kong, which has dominated the top 10 list for the past seven years, but now slips into second place.
The findings come from the Global Roadshow Report 2018, based on the responses of more than 600 IR professionals.
Rounding out the top three destinations for Asian companies going on the road is London, taking over from New York, which takes fourth place this year. As in previous years, the list of top 10 cities for Asian companies is far more regionally diverse than for firms from North America or Europe, with the 2018 list featuring only four Asian cities: Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan in fifth place and Kuala Lumpur in ninth.
Three of the 10 most-popular cities for Asian companies to visit in 2018 are North American: New York, Boston in sixth place and San Francisco in joint seventh. The remaining three are European, with two in the UK: London, Edinburgh in joint seventh place and Paris in 10th position.
In comparison, the top 10 list of cities for European companies features three cities from outside the region: New York, Boston and Toronto, while the top 10 for North American firms has only London from outside the region. Neither features an Asian city.
This tendency for a more diverse destination list is nothing new to Asian companies going on the road, however. And while Hong Kong might have topped the list over the years, as Vivek Aranha, CEO for Asia at Orient Capital, told IR Magazine last year, as far as Asian firms are concerned, the two are largely interchangeable.
‘If you’re in South East Asia you’d probably go to Singapore more often, and if you’re in north Asia you might visit Hong Kong,’ he explained. ‘But I think in terms of Asian cities, those two will always lead.’
Indeed, with 79.2 percent of Asian firms visiting Singapore and 77.2 percent visiting Hong Kong during 2018, there’s little in it.
The two cities are also the go-to destinations for firms on a global scale. So while Singapore is number one among Asian firms going on the road, globally, Hong Kong ranks higher, coming in at number nine in the global top 20, while Singapore sits in 13th place. Over the years, the two Asian financial hubs have vied for popularity among global IROs, with other Asian cities rarely getting a look in, though Tokyo has made the global top 20 for the past two years.
Click here to download your copy of the Global Roadshow Report 2018.
Garnet Roach
An award-winning journalist, Garnet Roach joined IR Magazine in October 2012, working on both the editorial and research sides of the publication. Prior to entering the world of investor relations, her freelance career covered a broad range of...
