A multi-company conference initiated by utilities firms, involving more than 150 institutional investors, more than 20 European utilities issuers and more than 600 one-on-one meetings took place in London last week.
The European Investor Forum for Energy Leaders (EIFFEL), now in its second year, was founded in 2016 as a result of the US Utilities Association cancelling its long-standing annual London event.
Following the cancellation, IR professionals within the European utilities sector started informal talks to explore the possibility of replacing the event to fit European utilities companies’ and investors’ needs.
‘As a result of our talks, the case for an annual event was clear to see,’ says Gunhild Grieve, head of IR at RWE, who teamed up with Miguel Viana, head of IR at EDP, to set up the event. ‘By timing the event to take place in March after the release of annual results, we’ve been able to maximize interest from both the corporates and the investors.’
The event, sponsored by Berenberg, Santander and UBS, and with logistics provided by Tradinfo, took place on March 14-15 at the May Fair Hotel in London. It offered CEOs, CFOs and IROs the opportunity to present their results and business strategies to investors and analysts from the European and US equity and bond institutions.
Following a cocktail party on the first evening, the conference featured company presentations, fireside chats, one-on-ones and small-group meetings.
‘EIFFEL was a truly European affair involving companies from seven countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal and France, and investors coming from multiple European destinations, and even from as far away as the US,’ says Viana. ‘This was the second year we held the event and we were pleased to see nearly twice as many companies taking part compared with last year, as well as a significant increase in the number of C-suite members present.’
More information can be found at www.eiffel-london.com.
