Janet Dignan kicks off a roundup of recent IR conferences with this report from the IR Society’s annual event
The site of this year’s Investor Relations Society Annual Conference in London at the end of May was King’s Cross. Now, no one would argue that King’s Cross will ever be Lake Louise but it’s a lot less seedy than it once was, thanks to the arrival of the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras Station and the regeneration plans being implemented in the area. To date those have included, inter alia, the relocation of the offices of the Guardian and the Observer to King’s Place, a swanky new building (that also houses a new arts center) alongside the canal.
Dubbed the Southbank of King’s Cross by wry observers, it was the venue for this year’s IR Society annual conference, and it proved ideal – and for more than just conference goers. Lead sponsor Audi had the bright idea of parking a brand-new white Audi R8 convertible on a raft on the canal alongside a terrace used for coffee breaks, which surely gave any struggling IR professionals something to aim for.
Inside, the conference focused not just on shareholders, but also a wider stakeholder community. Subtitled ‘Investor relations at the heart of the stakeholder universe’, conference sessions covered the imperative to respond to the needs of a company’s board, customers and local communities during crises, in the context of sustainability issues and in understanding a brand’s contribution to valuation.
But one of the most enlightening parts of the conference was the breakout session entitled ‘IR and sovereign wealth funds’ (SWFs). It was led by Stephen Jones, head of IR at Barclays, who talked about the differences between dealing with SWFs and ordinary institutional shareholders. ‘It’s mostly CEO to CEO, or maybe CFO,’ he said. ‘But it’s high level and meetings happen twice a year.’
More excitingly, Jones provided the inside story from Barclays’ point of view of the financial meltdown in 2008. Back then, the bank opted to go the SWF route to acquire the investment it needed, rather than being bailed out by the government. ‘We felt that would be better for our existing shareholders in the end,’ he said, given that circumstances were so extreme and the need for speed so pressing. ‘At the time, groups like the Association of British Insurers were furious, but we’ve now been forgiven.’
The session was good because it made the audience feel it was getting behind the scenes of a high-profile crisis. The same was true of the panel discussion on how to handle hostile takeover bids, which boasted representatives from both sides of the Kraft bid for Cadbury: Charles Lytle, managing director of banking and broking at Citigroup, which advised the US food company during the bid; and John Dawson, former head of IR at Cadbury, now in the same role at National Grid.
Enough time has passed for any animosity to have faded, although there was room for an occasional dig, with Dawson describing Kraft’s tactic of bidding low and then dragging out the process as quite ‘simple’. Overall, both parties were ostensibly happy with their performance: Cadbury because it got the price tag up by £2 bn ($3.2 bn); Kraft because it won.
This article appeared in the August print edition of IR magazine.
