In the midst of COVID-19, the demand for digital engagement is greater than ever before - this is particularly evident in new issuance, where bookbuilders rely on technology to manage interactions with investors.

With that in mind, and to bring greater innovation to the bookbuilding process, IHS Markit has teamed up with NetRoadshow, the market standard for online roadshows. The best-of-breed collaboration will help investment banks centralize new issuance marketing and order management programs across global assets.

For more insight on the collaboration, we sat down with Gina Kashinsky, executive director in the Global Markets Group at IHS Markit, as well as Robert Totman, managing director at NetRoadshow. Key takeaways from our conversation follow just below.

Why are IHS Markit and NetRoadshow joining forces?

Gina: We are uniting IHS Markit's leading equity and fixed income bookbuilding tools with NetRoadshow's dominant virtual roadshow platform to drive execution efficiency across primary capital markets. Both of our firms have historically serviced the same global network of dealers and investors across the new issuance process, so there is a dynamic opportunity to marry data and workflows that have been previously managed in isolation.

By doing so, our shared clients will be able to garner advanced intelligence, while achieving data consolidation to accelerate the speed of execution. From our perspective, this collaboration exemplifies the IHS Markit approach: across industries, we work in alliance with leading solution providers to deliver unparalleled service, cutting-edge technology and data interoperability.

What will the alliance deliver to capital markets and investment professionals?

Gina: Given the rich functionality that resides between IHS Markit and NetRoadshow, there are many facets of the new issuance workflow that can be wedded together.

In the short-term, we are focused on two core workstreams:

1. Seamless integration of investor activity/engagement into institutional order books - this will enrich targeting and allocation practices with real-time updates on virtual roadshow viewership and conference call participation.

2. Enabling a direct route from institutional investors to all NetRoadshow-hosted virtual marketing events via our Buyside Portal, which serves as a centralized repository for all new issuance.

Over time, we will explore additional synergies with the NetRoadshow conference call platform, as well as pre-marketing modules offered by NetRoadshow, which are leveraged for pre-deal research and investor education.

How are primary markets going to benefit from this collaboration?

Gina: Based on what we hear from our customers, the biggest challenge for investment banks is to artfully balance the demands of new issuers and investors, who seek opposing positions on the offer price. Another key challenge is market volatility, as we are experiencing in tolls today, which further complicates that balance of demands.

To that end, by working with NetRoadshow, we are bringing primary markets up-to-the-minute investor activity data and analytics to render and support critical decision-making, such as allocations. We believe this information can drive the success of any deal and invite a robust pipeline of capital raising events for the broader investment community.

When will connectivity between IHS Markit and NetRoadshow go live?

Gina: At this time, we are preparing for two phases of NetRoadshow integration into our suite of solutions:

- Phase One for equity bookbuilding is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2020.
- Phase Two for fixed income bookbuilding will follow, with completion targeted in Q1 2021.

What is NetRoadshow's perspective on our alliance?

Robert: NetRoadshow is excited to work with IHS Markit on this opportunity. Marrying the powerful investor engagement analytics from our platform with IHS Markit's book building tools will deliver significant insights and efficiencies to our shared client base in ECM and DCM. We look forward to new opportunities as technologies and global markets continue to evolve.

For more information on multi-asset bookbuilding solutions from IHS Markit, visit our product webpage, or email us at: sales-leads@ihsmarkit.com