A Day in the Life of a Hedge Funds Investor Relations Officer
Update (July ’11): I am now open to taking on new clients who wishes to outsource their Investor Relations works. Drop me an email: felix@felixsim.com.
I was reading through some career portals (no, not looking for a job) when I came across an old article on Vault.com.
It talks about how Investor Relations people spend their days in the office (if they’re ever in the office). I also have a short comment on it after the article extract so read on.
A Day in the Life: Hedge Funds Investor Relations
7:00 a.m.: Arrive at the office, read The Wall Street Journal on the way into work to brief on current events in the market. Read industry magazines/journals to find out the latest news.
8:00 a.m.: After having coffee and bagel, check e-mails and phone messages from clients. Respond to client’s questions concerning performance of the fund and general market conditions.
9:00 a.m.: Work on writing the monthly newsletter. This involves getting all the analytics of the fund, which are obtained from the operations manager. It also requires the fund manager to summarize market conditions for the month and indicate which of the firms’ securities were impacted and which were not. You assist the fund manager in gathering the market data.
10:00 a.m.: Get called into a meeting with a potential investor by the hedge fund manager. Present the terms and conditions of investing with the fund lockup periods, minimum investment, etc. The manager has already gone over the returns of the fund and his investment philosophy.
11:30 a.m.: Leave for a lunch in Midtown with an existing investor in the fund. This lunch was arranged to discuss a potential investment in a new fund that we are launching. Over lunch, you discuss the existing performance of our fund, general market conditions and what differences the new fund would mean to his portfolio.2:00 p.m.: Arrive back from lunch to many e-mails and voice messages. Respond to the e-mails, and continue to write the monthly newsletter,.researching the macro economic conditions for the past month.3:00 p.m.: Speak to capital introductions group at a leading prime broker to discuss their next conference and to see if the firm can present at it. The conference is full for speakers, but the firm will attend.
4:00 p.m.: Arrange meetings with potential investors for the fund manager. Continue with the monthly newsletter this usually takes a few full days to complete since the coordination of the different departments can be timely.
5:30 p.m.: Leave for a dinner in Midtown with a potential investor in the fund and the hedge fund manager to discuss the investor’s potential investment into a new fund the firm is launching. Over dinner, you discuss the existing performance of our funds, general market conditions and what investing in the new fund would mean to his portfolio.
8:00 p.m.: After dinner, grab a cab home and crash.
In down times like the one we are in now, will you (hedge fund manager) be willing to employ someone like the above? If not, who else will support your Investor Relations function? Will you go back to doing it yourself? Sure that sounds like a plan. Now, who will manage your portfolio? You know what I am getting at. I have come across so many fund managers who tell me the same Catch-22 situation they are in, day-in, day-out. Here’s one: “We want to hire an IRO but we’re not big enough, but we know it is an important function to have as I want to spend my time managing the portfolio and following-up with investors, not the prospects. I’d also rather spend 2 hours talking to a company or to an investor than to take that time to design my weekly newsletter and mail it to my mailing list of 2,000 prospects. Yet, it all comes down to the dollars, we cannot afford a full-time IRO!”
Does this sound familiar to you? I can help. Send me an email with your requirements: felix@felixsim.com.
Felix
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