IIRF conference programme

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Conference programme (3/4 Dec)

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IIRF 2007 ANNUAL CONFERENCE:

Main programme

Please note:
The IIRF reserves the right to change to change the timing and content of this programme at any time.

SUNDAY 2 DECEMBER 2007: ARRIVAL & WELCOME

Registration and welcome reception
(and distribution of conference t-shirts sponsored by the Altman Group)

MONDAY 3 DECEMBER 2007: CONFERENCE DAY ONE

On 3rd December, JIRA will hold its own one-day conference for its members, who will join the second day of the IIRF conference. This first day of the IIRF conference will therefore focus on the main Asia / Pacific markets from the viewpoint of the non-Japanese IR professional.

08:45

Conference opening & welcome

by the chairman of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and the chairman of the IIRF

SESSION 1

GLOBAL CHALLENGES: THE RISE OF THE ASIAN MARKETS

09:00

The growth and changing shape of the Asian investment markets

A review of the size, growth rate and changing shapes of the key Asian markets:
The East Asia / Pacific region holds 30% of the world’s population (with another 25% in South Asia) and has recorded economic growth averaging over 8% per year for the last 20 years, accelerating over the last 10 years to four times the rate for the OECD. The region now includes 7 of the 10 countries with the highest asset reserves in the world – and they are still growing while those of the OECD are shrinking. Savings rates are much higher than for the OECD countries and, with per capita income growing so much faster, there can be no doubt that this region has the potential to become a major source of equity investment – indeed we have already seen some startling acquisitions of Western businesses (eg IBM Lenovo). BUT before Western IROs apply for frequent flier cards with Asian airlines, and Asian IROs book their Chinese language courses, they may want to consider a few other factors:
- Asian investors hold very little in foreign equities or corporate bonds – how quickly could this change?
- will this rising wealth be managed by the Western-based fund managers that dominate the current scene?
- will Asian companies catch up in IR skills so quickly that they soak up all the available equity funds?
- for Western companies, how desirable would Asian investors be with their very low levels of transparency?
- for Asian IROs, does the development of active equity markets imply that they will become even more vulnerable to Western-style takeovers and shareholder activism?
- perhaps most important: which of these markets will justify the investment of your top management’s time during the timeframe of your company’s planning and your own career path?

09:30

Rising sun: the lure of Japan - the world’s second biggest investment market

Many major companies gave up 10+ years ago, but the world’s 2nd biggest market is recovering strongly and is introducing reforms to encourage international investment
By the late 1980s, over 100 companies had listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, as Western IROs saw the first signs of Asia catching up with the West. Very soon, it became clear that this was a false dawn, as Japan sank into 10 years of deflation and bad debt, and that most of the trading in their stock was only between the banks. Between 1991 and 2001, only 14 foreign companies listed in Tokyo, whilst 102 delisted. BUT was it only the timing they got wrong? With Japan’s surge back to economic health, its underlying strengths again demand consideration. It is still one of the world’s largest economies, with much higher savings ratios than the West and the world’s largest pool of pension money; it is a highly developed market with strong infrastructure; and it is now at the heart of the world’s fastest growing region. Can today’s IROs afford to go on ignoring this pool of sophisticated investors?

10:00

Coffee / tea in exhibition area - sponsored by

SESSION 2

WHAT DO EXCHANGES HAVE TO OFFER?

10:30

Stock exchange consolidation: what it means to listed companies

An IIRF study group has been looking at this area and asking: should companies be pushing for more say in the exchanges that trade their shares?
Following the aborted attempt by Deutsche Börse to acquire the London Stock Exchange, the merger of NYSE and Euronext brought together 6 equity and derivatives markets. Since then, consolidation has accelerated, involving NASDAQ and OMX (the Nordic / Baltic exchange group), the two main Chicago derivatives exchanges, the Tokyo and Singapore exchanges and others. BUT in the announcements of all these transforming mergers, the focus was all on the exchanges’ shareholders and customers, with very little, if any, information given about the effects on the companies listed on the exchanges. An IIRF study group is already working on collecting views from IR societies and companies to decide whether they should take a more active stance.

10:45

What are Asian exchanges doing to win back Asian (and Western) listings and equity trading?

Asian exchanges are already taking part in this wave of consolidation. How will this affect the Asian companies going public or expanding their share capital, and the Western companies looking at the possibility Asian listings?
With deals already agreed involving exchanges in Japan, Singapore and India, it is clear that Asia is not going to be left out of the consolidation trend. BUT, as share issuance and trading accelerates in the region – in May this year, trading on the Chinese stock exchanges exceeded volumes on all other Asian exchanges combined (and on London) – Asian companies need to look at how consolidation might affect them, and Western companies might wonder if a listing in Asia would be a waste of time if the exchange they choose ends up being absorbed in one of the emerging global groups. The IIRF’s 2005 research on shareholder transparency showed that stock exchanges were one of the important sources of ownership information for companies – but less so in Asia than elsewhere. As they compete for listings from the emerging wave of new Asian issuers, and possibly from Western companies looking for Asian investors, what do they have to offer?

SESSION 3

PRACTICAL IR IN ASIA

12:15

Parallel session

Delegates will be able to choose between two sessions covering practical aspects of IR in Asia

A) Compete or co-operate?

The practical aspects of organising roadshows
New research by the US universities of Texas and Michigan, once again suggests that the radical regulatory reforms of recent years have “failed to eradicate conflicts of interest on Wall Street” and an IIRF research study is looking at the rôle of the sell-side in IR. Meanwhile, a service initiated by the IIRF in the Nordic region- iR Global League (iRGL) – is helping companies to avoid clashes between their AGMs, capital markets days, webcasts and, more recently, foreign roadshows.
A leading Nordic company IRO will describe how this co-operative exchange of planning information has helped him to avoid clashes with major peers when planning webcasts, conference calls and / or roadshows.

B) Culture shock!

Do you need to arrange training for your top executives and IR team on how to behave in Asia? Some multinationals use regular specialist trainers to help improve their top management media and investor presentation skills. Some CEOs think they are already – for a very few, maybe this is even true! But whether or not they need training for their regular IR programme, do they need it for the Asia / Pacific markets? Are there special requirements for presenting via simultaneous translation? Are they going to look ignorant if they have never heard of the terracotta army or the Yasukuni shrine? Do they need help in historical, cultural and language sensitivities? Do they need to know how low to bow and how to eat while sitting on the floor? Experienced market professionals give their advice.

13:00

Lunch in exhibition area

SESSION 4

PRACTICAL IR IN KEY MARKETS

Two sets of parallel sessions with investors and IR professionals focussing on key markets

Not surprisingly, the most popular sessions at previous IIRF conferences have been those in which buy-side investors and experienced IR executives discuss the practical aspects of improving their interactions, and this series of sessions is intended to repeat that success. It will comprise a series of three parallel sessions – ie with two workshops going on at any one time – one set focusing on some of the key Asian markets, the other on some of the key Western markets. Each will have at least one institutional investor from the featured market and one IR professional with experience in that market. They will both describe their rôles and then discuss with the audience practical ways to improve their programme – for example, in each market:
- How often do you – or your CEO / CFO - need to visit these markets and what kinds of meetings do investors prefer?
- How are the institutions structured and do they have specialists covering your market or sector?
- Do you need to introduce your market / sector before even starting to talk about your company?
- How do the meetings compare with those in your domestic market or in centres like London and New York?
- Are there any cultural or other sensitivities you need to know about in each market?
- How do investors feel about meetings arranged by brokers or consultants, rather than directly by companies?
- Are they willing to disclose their share / bond-holdings and to give feedback to companies and / or intermediaries?
- What examples of best (and worst) IR practices have investors encountered?