Buy siders favor sell-side corporate access
Corporate access desk
Less than 25 percent of buy-side investors and analysts polled work in organizations with a dedicated corporate access desk, which means more than three quarters do not have this facility available to them. The portion with an in-house corporate access desk rises to 30 percent in North America and 29 percent in Asia, so the lower global number is due to just 6 percent of European buy-siders having availability in their organization.
Arranging meetings
Just under half of meetings with companies are arranged using sell-side corporate access, making it the most-used method by buy-side respondents. Four in 10 meetings are arranged directly with the company and this is clearly the second-most common means of arrangement.
Direct contact is less common in Europe than in North America or Asia. It is the most common way for the North American buy side to arrange meetings.
As fewer than a quarter of buy-siders have access to an in-house corporate access desk, the overall numbers using them are low. Where access to such facilities does exist, however, they are the most-used arrangement, with 43 percent of meetings involving them. The majority of buy-side corporate access desks are in North America.
Taking meetings
Direct contact is the most successful way to arrange meetings, with almost half of buy-side respondents saying they are much more likely to take a meeting with a company if the company approaches them directly rather than using a third party. Only 8 percent say they would be less likely, with 19 percent stating that it would not make a difference.
Arranging meetings through a buy-side corporate access desk also has a high success rate. Although only 23 percent of buy-siders have access to such a facility in their work, 45 percent say they would be more likely to take a meeting this way, compared with 18 percent who say they would be less likely. Going through a non-buy-side or sell-side third party is the only method of arrangement where more buy-side respondents say they would be less likely to take a meeting.
Taking meetings by region
Although direct contact is the most successful means of arranging meetings in every region, it is slightly less so in Europe than in North America or Asia. Among European buy-siders, 16 percent say direct contact would make them less likely to take a meeting, compared with none in North America and just 4 percent of Asian respondents.
Asian fund managers and buy-side analysts are the most appreciative of conventional sell-side corporate access, with more than half saying such approaches make them more likely to take a meeting. North American buy-side respondents are the most neutral and Europeans the most hostile toward sell-side corporate access.
Buy-side corporate access is more popular than sell-side access in North America. Of those who have an in-house corporate access desk, more than half of North American buy-siders are more likely to take a meeting arranged this way, compared with 20 percent who favor conventional sell-side corporate access and 29 percent who are more likely to take a meeting when it is arranged by both the buy side and the sell side.
Direct contact
More than six in 10 buy-side investors and analysts have, over the past few years, become more likely to reach out to companies directly to arrange meetings, with three in 10 saying they have become much more likely. At the same time, more than half are more likely to respond to direct company outreach, compared with just 5 percent who say they have become less likely.
The trend for reaching out directly to companies is consistent in every region, while the trend for responding to company outreach is slightly lower in Asia and slightly higher among European buy-siders.
