02.06.2014 - Is there an SWF in your future?
When Visa was on the runway for its IPO in early 2008, the bankers running the deal suggested meeting with sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the Middle East where they detected substantial interest. But they advised the global credit card giant to follow a two-step process ‘to bridge any cultural divides,’ recalls Jack Carsky, senior vice president of global IR at the credit payments company. ‘We made the effort to go out on two separate occasions’ to make initial introductions before the funds would get serious about investing, he recounts. The meetings ‘looked like the UN’, with the lead analyst ‘a kid who grew up in Iowa’ joined by colleagues from China and India. ‘The common factor was they were all fantastic analysts.’ The extra effort paid off when SWFs ‘became a cornerstone’ in the IPO, Carsky states.........................................Full Article: Source
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