Posted on January 30th, 2018. Posted by ICR Westwicke
As head of business development for Westwicke, I always look forward to a jam-packed, action-filled week of conversations. This year did not disappoint.
With almost 50 meetings scheduled, I had the pleasure of meeting with many compelling private and public healthcare companies. And there was no shortage of innovation, grit, and creativity this year. I found many management teams determined to advance their science, technology, and businesses in 2018.
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Posted on September 27th, 2017. Posted by Chris Brinzey
Whether it’s your first J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference or your 36th, if you are involved in the healthcare sector in any way, you know J.P. Morgan is the super bowl of healthcare conferences and for four days, it becomes the epicenter of healthcare. The attendance is staggering with approximately 20,000 healthcare professionals ranging from institutional investors, private equity and venture capital investors, bankers, analysts, and company executives all gathering to see the next new thing in healthcare. It is the place to be for healthcare executives to start the year.
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Posted on September 14th, 2017. Posted by Patti Bank
Attending Wall Street investment banking conferences is a large part of a strategic investor relations plan. Along with non-deal road shows, management’s visibility and interaction with buy-side accounts during one-on-one meetings are critical for conveying your story to potential investors, addressing unanswered questions, and expanding on an investment theme. But, finding the appropriate conference strategy can be harder than it seems, especially when it comes to lining up a successful meeting schedule with key buy-side accounts.
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Posted on July 12th, 2017. Posted by ICR Westwicke
At Westwicke, we’re often asked for our opinion on the state of the market for new public offerings. And the sad truth is that for all but a fortunate few, the IPO window has been shut tight for more than a year.
But the IPO market, like all markets, is cyclical. This bearish view of new public offerings will eventually turn, just as it has many times before.
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Posted on July 5th, 2017. Posted by Caroline Corner
At some point during your company’s growth, you will need to share sensitive data with investors and financial professionals by using a data room. In the old days, a data room was just that: a room filled with printed files and reams of paper containing patent descriptions, clinical data, and financial projections.
Today, data rooms are usually virtual. And with hackers increasing their efforts (and their ability) to steal sensitive data, it’s vital you consider security as well as service and convenience as you evaluate data room solutions.
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Posted on May 23rd, 2017. Posted by John Woolford, MBA
Recently, we hosted a luncheon discussion, led by the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Wells Fargo Securities, with executives from several life science companies. The primary topic was the outlook for Life Science Capital Markets in 2017. Geoffrey Goodman, Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets at Wells Fargo, and Filippo Petti, Vice President of Healthcare Investment Banking at Wells Fargo, led the discussion.
Below are our key takeaways from the discussion.
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Posted on May 17th, 2017. Posted by Patti Bank
With our colleagues at NASDAQ, we recently co-hosted an informational luncheon for private-company CEOs and CFOs on the IPO process. Guest speakers included a life science venture capital investor and a CFO of a company that went public in 2016.
The management teams in the audience for the well-attended event had plenty of questions for our guests, on everything from how to prepare for an IPO to avoiding pitfalls to making the transition to being a public company.
Our speakers had much to say. Below are a few of their most important pieces of advice:
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Posted on January 25th, 2017. Posted by ICR Westwicke
Another J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference has come and gone, and this year’s event was perhaps the most hectic yet. Despite the busy schedule, the Westwicke team returned energized by what we heard in San Francisco.
After dozens of meetings with a lot of great companies, two things in particular became clear to me. One is that healthcare stocks seem poised for a better 2017 than they had in 2016. Another is a potential increase in M&A activity. In fact, we woke up on the first day of the conference to the news of United Healthcare acquiring Surgical Care Affiliates. Who knows if this theme will continue through the rest of the year, but many of the quality companies we had the opportunity to chat with this week could be attractive targets to both strategic investors and the sponsor community.
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Posted on December 14th, 2016. Posted by Bob East
After several years of extraordinary performance, healthcare stocks endured a challenging year in 2016. The Nasdaq Health Care and Biotechnology Indices were down almost 14 percent and more than 18 percent, respectively, year to date, through Dec. 12.
Whether you’re a leader of a public healthcare company, or a private company with plans for an IPO, carefully planned and flawlessly executed investor relations strategies are more important than ever during periods of increased scrutiny from Wall Street.
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Posted on November 9th, 2016. Posted by Chris Brinzey
Some people are a little surprised to hear that a decent percentage of our clients at Westwicke are private, venture-backed healthcare companies. “Why,” they ask, “do private companies need investor relations?”
Having spent the majority of my professional career on the buy side at one of the first U.S.-based healthcare crossover firms, I typically respond by saying: “I often wonder why it takes private companies so long before they do reach out to the buy side!”
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