When the Covid-19 pandemic shut the world down last year, there was little time for anyone to adapt. But for the business of corporate access — which until last year connected investors and companies largely through travel and in-person events — the transition was especially stark.
For Brazilian provider BTG Pactual, this happened in the middle of a roadshow where, after one day of meetings, the event went instantly, if unexpectedly, virtual on the second day.
“Companies from their end understood that they had to be in contact with investors and clients and converted their interactions to online meetings as well,” recalls Carlos Sequeira, head of research at BTG Pactual. “Our straight relationship with IR and management teams helped to enhance the events calendar with several online group meetings since the first week of lockdown.”
The firm’s ability to keep the virtual show on the road illustrates why, once again, BTG Pactual has been ranked first by money managers and corporations in Institutional Investor’s 2021 edition of Latin America’s Top Corporate Access Providers.
To select the members for Institutional Investor’s 2021 Latin America’s Top Corporate Access Providers, we invited participants in the 2021 Latin America Research Team and 2021 Latin America Executive Team Surveys to provide feedback on the firms that provided the best corporate access, overall and on a number of attributes.
From the 2021 Latin America Research Team survey, representing the buy-side point of view, we received responses from 228 investors at 177 firms. This group rated sell-side firms on a scale from 1 to 5 for the overall corporate access they provided across six attributes: conferences; field trips; logistics; roadshows; team quality; and virtual events. Voters were also asked to rate the sell-side firms on their corporate access within the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and North Andean Countries.
Each vote was weighted by the voting firm’s Latin America commission range and the rating awarded to create the rankings. Additionally, a second result was created using the assets under management, rather than commissions, as the weighting.
The Corporate Access Leaders table, based on the buy-side voter’s survey, was calculated by adding together a firm’s overall corporate access scores within each attribute to produce a table of the top ten firms. The country results were calculated separately to create the Top Firm by Country.
From the 2021 Latin America Executive Team survey, representing the corporate point of view, 110 corporates voted for sell-side firms and third-party providers. Voters were asked to name their top four firms in the following attributes: conferences, feedback, investor introductions, nondeal road shows, and site visits. Each attribute score was based on the place awarded to the firm. Scores were then aggregated to create the overall result.
The Corporate Access Leaders table, based on the corporates’ responses, tabulated each firm’s overall attribute scores to produce a table comprised of the top-ten firms. A top-three table also highlights the top-ranked firms for each category.
The names of those surveyed are kept confidential to ensure their continuing cooperation. Voters are required to meet eligibility requirements, and all ballots are subject to review by II’s Research Operations Group. Results are also subject to inspection by an independent auditor.