Amid the tech meltdown that closed out the 1990s, Jordan Darrow watched the stock of Primus Telecommunications Group plummet to $0.24 a share. For two years, the stock remained on life support while coverage dropped to just one analyst. Today, the stock trades above $10 a share. This miraculous recovery earned the company the best business turnaround gong at the American Business Awards in 2003.
Darrow, who as Primus’ IRO played an important role in the company’s resurgence, is now vice president of IR and corporate communications at Stronghold Technologies. The job allows him to work from an office in Long Island, New York, his home for the past ten years. It also lets him pursue his second passion: LI Invest, an investor conference for local companies set up by the firms themselves.
LI Invest is a not-for-profit group that gets regional companies together to organize conferences where they present their stories to the financial community. The overall goal is to encourage investors to put their money in the local economy. The idea came to Darrow while he was watching Primus’ stock price drop. It suddenly occurred to him that it would make sense for a group of companies to combine forces to put on a buy-side conference.
‘It’s taking Wall Street and putting it back in the hands of the companies,’ says Darrow, co-founder and president of LI Invest. ‘Rather than have these firms go to New York City and attend a conference sponsored by one of the investment banks, where they limit who can attend, we’re developing an organization that will provide free attendance and an opportunity for Long Island’s more notable large caps and up-and-coming companies to present to the public.’
Help from the highest level
To organize these events, Darrow enlisted the help of two IR professionals: Carolynne Borders, director of IR for Standard Microsystems and co-founder and executive vice president of LI Invest; and Debra Wasser, vice president of LI Invest and vice president of IR and corporate communications at Veeco Instruments. The first LI Invest conference is now set for September 23, 2004.
These conferences represent a new trend among companies looking to raise their profile among institutional investors. Call it grassroots IR. Last year the North Carolina chapters of the National Investor Relations Institute and the Association for Corporate Growth sponsored NCInvest2003, a regional conference that brought together the CEOs and CFOs of 17 local firms. The concept worked well and now NCInvest2004 is scheduled for February 25, 2004 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
With sell-side coverage among small and mid-cap companies at an all-time low, Darrow says he sees this as ‘a unique opportunity to offer another avenue of exposure.’
‘Sell-side conferences target the institutional community only,’ adds Borders. ‘Our conferences are open to sell-side analysts, the brokerage community and high net-worth individuals.’
One well-known investor who believes LI Invest is well worth the effort (and participation) is Andrew Krieger, a member of LI Invest’s advisory board. He has provided investment banking and venture capital services for approximately 50 companies and is the managing partner of RAK Partners, a limited partnership invested in venture capital firm Newlight Associates.
‘LI Invest is going to have a cross-section of people: companies, accounting firms, money managers, bankers, broker dealers, venture capital firms such as Newlight, even attorneys,’ says Krieger. ‘There’s opportunity for each party to help the other, even in indirect ways that might not be immediately apparent. LI Invest means invest in Long Island. This type of event is critical for Long Island and for the Northeast economy.’
So far, LI Invest’s September conference has multiple sponsors including Ernst & Young, CCBN, Citigate Financial, Newlight Associates, Nasdaq, MultexIR, Business Wire and Curran & Connors. In addition, some big-name companies like Computer Associates, Symbol Technologies, Jet Blue, 1-800-Flowers, Enzo Biochem and Keyspan have signed up to present.
