Intro To An IRO: Mark Dehring, CSL Limited
Mark Dehring was appointed Head of Investor Relations at CSL Limited in 2003 ahead of the acquisition of Aventis Behring, an event which more than doubled the size of the company. Before taking up his present position he held investor relations roles over a 10 year period. This included positions at Telstra (Telecommunications), when the company was undergoing privatization, and ANZ Banking Group. Prior to working in investor relations, Mark was a financial accountant with ANZ Banking Group in Melbourne. Dehring was also awarded 2018’s IRO of the Year award by AIRA, the Australasia Investor Relations Association, as voted by buy- and sell-side participants.
What are your top priorities and biggest challenges?
As with all Investor Relations officers, the key focus is efficient access to capital and ensuring the company’s securities reflect fair value. But stepping back from these high level priorities, this year I want to elevate engagement with ESG investors. First, I need to understand the audience better - who the key players are, value of funds they represent, improve my understanding of what they want to know and then more proactively promote CSL’s position to ESG investors, the sell side, various indexes, other appropriate communication platforms etc.
How long have you been in your role and how have you seen the role evolve in the past couple of years?
I’ve been an IRO for 25 years and 15 years in my current role as VP of IR at CSL. I think the most significant change in the role is a function of the equity market rather than a change in my role – MiFIDII, fewer sell-side analysts covering more stocks, fewer active funds with a commensurate increase in index or algorithmic stocks. I’ve also seen the rise of asset owners who are increasingly taking an active interest in how they vote on their stocks and the behaviour of the companies they are investing in.
How can the IRO best engage the investment community?
I wouldn’t use just one technique. The long tried and tested process of asking brokers to help still works. They know the key investors in their particular geographies – they know who might be interested in your sector, where the money flows are etc. Your own register is a great source – use Nasdaq IR Insight to compare it against other companies in the sector and see who is holding their stocks. I was pleased to hear that Nasdaq IR Insight has now incorporated WeConvene into the arsenal of offerings – a very useful tool to identify and set up meetings. LIPPER is another great tool.
What is one important initiative that you’ve championed or experience that you’ve had as an IRO?
Experiences are numerous. Industry or market wide, it has been events such as the global financial crisis, tech wreck, Asian meltdown, FX mega-gyrations, MiFID and now the rise of the ESG investor. Then there is the multitude of company-specific issues. I think all of these add up to what is the complex and intricate fabric of an IRO’s daily life – nothing stays static for long, but it certainly stays interesting.
What advice do you have for the next generation of IRO?
Know your company very well. Know your strategy, know your numbers, know how your CEO thinks & keep learning. Build company learning into your schedule. The CEO is not omnipotent and if you are not a viable and credible alternative for an investor to meet with then you’re not adding value.
What matters most to you when identifying the institutional shareholders in your company and peers?
I think a little differently - IROs should meet with everyone. They should only be fussy about who their CEO and senior executive and company Directors meet with. Then it is a case of influence. Influence in terms of the impact the senior executive has on that particular investor’s decision-making process, influence in terms of how much impact that investor has on the company and their potential equity holding.
What are some challenges you face when liaising with other areas of your organization around proxy and earnings seasons?
Your own company needs to know and trust you. Take the time to get to know them and understand how they think and how you can help them. Unfortunately an IRO’s demands on a company are enormous and onerous. Understand how you can help your colleagues and foster that relationship. A good relationship means they will go the extra mile in helping you both in terms of quality of input and speed of response.
What resources do you rely on to stay up-to-date on the capital markets?
Many and varied – analyst research, stock exchange announcements etc. What I find particularly useful are the adhoc notes I receive from my Nasdaq IR Advisor. Usually the notes are specific to me, my company’s shareholder activity, or competitor and/or industry activity. And typically it is not something that appears in the press. Equally as important – there’s no additional fee for it.
What are the benefits you have seen from being a Nasdaq IR Insight and Advisory client?
I remember the days when there were no systems available to help IROs. We used to write to Nominee companies asking for details about beneficial shareholders. It was more an art than a science and consumed an enormous amount of time. Now with Nasdaq, it has turned into a push-button service with a high degree of accuracy. Furthermore, Nasdaq IR Insight comes with tools to help identify potential investors, their contact details, investment styles, who else they invest in and their likely behaviour – it is a huge leap forward.
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