Companies that held virtual roadshows used an average of 4.1 brokers in their virtual roadshow program for Q3 2020 to Q3 2021, up from 2.2 brokers used in the previous year when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit.
European companies use fewer brokers for virtual roadshows than North American or Asian companies.
The number of brokers used for virtual roadshows rises with company size from 2.8 among small-cap companies to 8.4 among mega-caps, which is to be expected given that the number of virtual roadshows held increases with cap size.
But because larger companies typically host shorter virtual roadshows than smaller companies, the amount of time each broker spends decreases with company size. Small-cap companies typically spend an average of 3.7 days with each broker on virtual roadshow activity, compared with mega-cap companies spending an average of 2.1 days.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the most-used broker for virtual roadshows during the period Q3 2020 to Q3 2021. More than a quarter of companies polled used it during this time. It is closely followed by JPMorgan Chase, which just under a quarter (24.4 percent) of companies used, and Citi, which was used by one in five firms.
What is most notable about the top 20 list for virtual roadshow brokers is how closely it matches previous tables of most-used brokers for in-person roadshows. All popular brokers appear to have adapted to the virtual format and no broker that wasn’t commonly used for in-person roadshows has excelled at the new format.
The top four brokers in this list have all regularly featured in the top five in-person roadshow broker tables over the years. The top 17 brokers for virtual roadshows this year all featured in the top 20 in-person table last year, while nine of the top 10 featured in last year’s in-person top 10.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Canada jointly top the list for most-used broker by North American companies. Both brokers were used by more than a quarter of North American companies for virtual roadshows between Q3 2020 and Q3 2021. JPMorgan Chase was used by exactly a quarter of respondent companies in this time.
With the exception of Bank of Montreal, all brokers that featured in last year’s top 10 chart feature again this year, with UBS and Credit Suisse being new entrants for 2021.
All brokers that featured in the 2020 chart for most-used brokers for in-person roadshows among North American companies feature in this year’s chart for virtual roadshows. Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, UBS and Wells Fargo are all new entrants to the North American virtual top 10 in 2021, with all being outside the top 10 in the 2020 virtual table.
There are four brokers topping the list for most-used broker by European companies: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Berenberg, Jefferies and JPMorgan Chase were all used by one in five European companies for virtual roadshows from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021.
Jefferies is new to the top 10 list for European companies this year, having been in neither the virtual nor the in-person table in 2020. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Berenberg and JPMorgan Chase are all climbers, while last year’s most-used brokers for both in-person and virtual roadshows currently sit in joint fifth in this year’s virtual chart.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and JPMorgan Chase have all been used by more than a third of Asian companies polled for virtual roadshows during the period Q3 2020 to Q3 2021. UBS headed last year’s tables for both in-person and virtual roadshows. This year, along with HSBC, it has been used by three in 10 Asian firms for virtual roadshows.
All brokers in this year’s most-used list for virtual roadshows by Asian companies were in last year’s table for in-person roadshows, while HSBC is a new entrant in the 2021 virtual roadshows top 10.
