Though it was chilly back in IR Magazine’s London home, at the end of November myself and our events team made the painful decision to fly to warmer climes in Singapore, where we would stage the IR Magazine Forum – South East Asia 2024.
We were joined there by senior IR professionals from across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to share learnings, tips and techniques from the very best that the local IR community has to offer.
From targeting to gaining management’s buy-in, discussions took in a wide range of topics. Below, I’ve picked out some of the key takeaways from this year’s event.
Prepare to reinvent yourself
Unsurprisingly, AI was a topic that came up throughout the day’s sessions. It’s also something that investors are showing interest in. ‘The more times you can use AI and automation in your messaging, the more the audience will love it,’ joked Foong Chong Lek, director and head of family office at Singapore Exchange (SGX), which hosted this year’s event.
But a deeper point was made by Christine Lau, head of IR at Malaysian property developer UEM Sunrise, in a session that addressed gaining management’s buy-in for IR. Her two main pieces of advice for her fellow attendees were to ‘stay humble’, keeping transparency and honesty as key values, and to not stick to being a ‘traditional’ IRO.
‘IROs always need to evolve,’ she added. ‘If you continue to do the same thing for 15 years, then you need to push yourself to be hungrier and to find new things that your investors are interested in. Above all, if you don’t know, always ask.’
Storytelling is everything
One of the day’s most anticipated sessions was a fireside chat with Hafizuddin Sulaiman, CFO at UEM Sunrise. Despite the best efforts of Singapore’s stormy weather, he and his head of IR Lau, managed to make it to the forum on time despite a heavily delayed flight.
Sulaiman took the situation in good humour and radiated that positivity to the SGX audience throughout a revealing interview. He spoke particularly passionately about the value he places on the IR function at UEM Sunrise, and his belief that IR will always be relevant in the capital markets – so long as the function does not miss an opportunity to ‘engage, engage, engage’.
‘I can do the heavy lifting in terms of managing the numbers, but I can’t do what Christine, my IRO, does,’ he added.
‘Sometimes we don’t think enough about it, but one mistake, one word used could have a lasting impact on the company. My own personal view of IR is that I appreciate you. You all have a story to tell, and I look forward to hearing those stories.’
Don’t wait for activists
Another popular session was focused on how to optimize stock performance by increasing liquidity and minimizing price volatility. Maria Scetta, CEO & co-founder of DeltaBlock, explored some of the ways in which new technology can help make stocks in the region more appealing to overseas investors.
She also delved into how keeping on top of your shareholder base and trading data can help to pre-empt where activist interest may come from. Elena Arabadjieva, chief operating officer and head of IR at Cromwell European REIT, agreed, sharing with the audience her experience of being approach by a high-profile activist investor in recent months. She said the keys to coming through the situation with her credibility intact were to keep monitoring her shareholder base, particularly the position of this activist and other potential activist investors, and to engage with them frequently.
‘My advice is don’t wait for a letter to come from an activist investor,’ Arabadjieva said. ‘You should really keep track of your proxies, know who the proxy advisors are and you should monitor activist investors on your register. They’re not difficult to identify. Then engage with them – don’t be afraid. If you know your management team are doing well, there’s nothing to be afraid of.’
Making your meetings count
A panel of two IROs – Pattarawan Sookplang, director and head of investor relations at CP Axtra and Siraphop Paphatthananan, senior manager for investor relations, Asia Aviation – alongside Vijay Natarajan, a sell-side analyst in the real estate and REITs sector, examined how to make investor targeting and meetings as impactful as possible.
Paphatthananan offered his advice for how to pick up coverage through his experience of building up Asia Aviation’s analyst base after Covid, when most dropped their coverage of the company. He spoke extensively to his existing sell-side contacts to find the relevant analysts at the same brokerages and arranged new calls to learn their metrics and interests.
Natarajan offered similar advice, and spoke of the power of empathy – and an understanding of body language – to really determine what investors are thinking. In times of high volatility, using analysts to scope out the questions that investors are asking most frequently and preparing some Q&A to address those was a powerful tool, he said.
‘Every investor meeting is a learning opportunity,’ Natarajan noted. ‘It’s about two-way communication. You communicate your story to the investor in the best possible way, but it’s also important to spend five or ten minutes to learn why the investor took the meeting.’
Laurie Havelock
Laurie has been part of the IR Magazine team for more than a decade, starting out as a reporter and research editor before becoming editor in 2023. He was previously acting business editor at the i newspaper and deputy business editor at The Daily...
