IR Monitor – 13 August 2025

In this week’s newsletter:

• As Glencore retains its London listing, IR Impact asks: is this the end of the LSE exodus?
• C-suite access is the new divide in the hedge fund world: the biggest firms have teams of people handling their relationships with companies and get the most access
• The push for ESG risks conflict with fiduciary responsibilities: an FT opinion piece
• Something is very wrong with either the public stock market or with private-equity spreadsheets when two major buyout firms are competing to buy a UK company for more than double its market value: an opinion piece from Bloomberg
• When advisers do not necessarily help investor relations: CityAM reports on the companies cracking down on investment bank leaks 
• And finally… One moment, your company is a footnote during earnings season; next, it’s a star on Reddit: a CEO’s guide to making the most of your meme stock moment.

This week’s news

Is the grass always greener on the other side (of the pond)? IR Impact

As the representation of UK-listed equities in the MSCI World Index dwindles, the pressure is mounting on the UK government and the LSE to strengthen its investment landscape, reports IR Impact. However, Glencore’s recent decision not to transfer its listing from London to New York shows that there is hope for the end of the exodus as it signals its commitment to the strength of the London market. The company deems the UK to offer the best value for its shareholders and, even further, is aware of the significant costs and risks associated with transferring its listing to the US. Simultaneously, Wise last month voted to shift its primary listing from London to New York, signalling that although confidence in the LSE may be on the rise, there is work still to be done by regulators and companies to improve market sentiment and to quell company outflows.  

Downsides of UK Listing Reforms

As the representation of UK-listed equities in the MSCI World Index dwindles, the pressure is mounting on the UK government and the LSE to strengthen its investment landscape, reports IR Impact. However, Glencore’s recent decision not to transfer its listing from London to New York shows that there is hope for the end of the exodus as it signals its commitment to the strength of the London market. The company deems the UK to offer the best value for its shareholders and, even further, is aware of the significant costs and risks associated with transferring its listing to the US. Simultaneously, Wise last month voted to shift its primary listing from London to New York, signalling that although confidence in the LSE may be on the rise, there is work still to be done by regulators and companies to improve market sentiment and to quell company outflows.  

Business Insider on corporate access

Corporate access has become a major differentiator for the largest multi-strategy hedge funds, with firms like Citadel, Millennium, Point72 and Balyasny running in-house teams to secure thousands of meetings with senior executives each year. This shift, once handled entirely by the sell side, has created a growing gap between the biggest funds and smaller players who struggle to get face time, and has even sparked internal competition within large firms for scarce slots. Business Insider notes that corporate access teams have gone from “booking agents to matchmakers”, pairing different teams and investors with the right executives. While some argue such meetings now offer little beyond scripted talking points, traditionalists see value in reading sentiment & body language. An alternative view from a founder of a smaller activism fund: “All these young analysts are asking questions off a sheet of paper their PM gave them and typing them into their models right there – it’s something AI could do.”  

Profits versus principles: can they share a boardroom? The FT

In line with the financial industry’s growing discontent towards decarbonisation and ESG commitments, Andreas Utermann at the Financial Times seeks to report on the cracks which show when regulators encourage capital commitment to sustainable practices through the employment of disclosure practices and exclusion-based frameworks. Firstly, reducing investment choice impedes the ability to maximise risk versus return throughout an investment mandate, which is done by choosing potentially undervalued securities. Secondly, encouraging investment into companies for reasons other than strong fundamentals poses risks from a social and capital markets point of view. Finally, Utermann points to the cultural relativity of differing EU societies as a reason for why investment firms should not be given the duty of ethically enlightening their clients. As a solution, he argues that regulatory decisions should be made on externalities in order that the financial sector is not constrained by regulation that operates in contravention of its methods and philosophies. 

The Great British Buy-Out: BBG

KKR & Co and Advent International are locked in a bidding war for Spectris Plc, driving the price of the mid-sized engineering company to more than double its market value. Bloomberg argues that this fight is an “indictment” of London’s market, and that the LSE is struggling to provide justification for UK companies to remain public. These firms can attract high takeover premiums because such mid-sized companies are worth more to private equity than to the market. More can be achieved with private owners, especially when companies are facing issues with profitability, scale and complexity. Bloomberg concludes that these takeovers, and the increasing appetite from private equity, poses a serious issue for the LSE, especially with few IPOs in the pipeline to replace companies taken private. 

The City is leaking – CityAM

Concerns over takeover news being leaked have risen, as almost 40% of takeovers of UK listed companies were reported to the media before official announcements over the past year. While advisors with access to non-public information are supposed to maintain complete secrecy, CityAM reports that there’s an increasing concern about the number of people who have continuous access to non-public inside information whilst not directly working on the deal. The source of the leaks continues to be contested, with bankers, lawyers and companies looking to drum up interest in the sale all denying responsibility. This comes as the UK Takeover Panel, which enforces M&A rules, is supposedly “going harder on leaks”, and the FCA has warned that it can “impose unlimited fines, order injunctions, or prohibit regulated firms or approved persons” for breaches of regulations.