Listings
Helen Berrill – Director of Listings
 |
Prior to joining Arthur Cox, I worked in the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) as Head of Structured Products Listing for over five years. Due to its effective and flexible approach, the ISE has been recognised worldwide as the leading centre for listing investment funds since its establishment in 1989. It became clear that other stock exchanges were listing specialised and debt specialised vehicles and in order to remain competitive, the ISE needed to expand to include the provision of such services. From the success of the investment funds area in the exchange we managed to develop a successful area in debt markets
Also while with the ISE, I gained exposure to all types of transactions – Asset Backed Securities, Debt Securities, Warrants and Whole Business Securities. I also obtained significant exposure to large investment firms in London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong, and dealt with many large law firms in those cities in addition to a number of Irish firms. It was from these dealings that became familiar with Arthur Cox. It was, and continues to be, a leading Irish firm with an excellent reputation. In deciding to move from the ISE to Arthur Cox this greatly influenced my choice, as did the quality of the people already working here. I joined the firm at Director level and was given the freedom to develop a brand-new Listings department from nothing. The firm had faith in me personally and in the breadth of my previous experience. The establishment of a Listings department within the firm made dealing with Arthur Cox an even more attractive prospect for clients as it eliminated the need to outsource such services, thereby reducing the costs involved.
The department has proved to be a phenomenal success. In the first 12 months, we listed over 180 transactions on the ISE. This process involves ensuring that a client’s document is ISE compliant, Prospectus Directive compliant, and that it meets the needs of the IFSRA. We liase with both investment and legal firms regarding documents and advise in relation to the Listing requirements. The document may pass through a number of rounds before it reaches the ISE, where it is then subject to review and comment. Only when it is clear of comment does the ISE forward it to IFSRA for listing.
We aim to provide a seamless listing process that combines a high level of technical knowledge with excellent communication skills necessary to respond to the most sophisticated and complex client deals. We do this efficiently within tight legal timeframes, however complex the legal product is that requires listing. The necessary skills for working in this environment include excellent client service skills – much of my work involves meeting and dealing with clients on a daily basis - an eye for detail as well as being energetic and able to work to deadlines.
The Listings Team has interaction with both the Capital Markets and the Financial Services practice groups. Initially we benefited from Capital Market referrals, now however the reverse is also true, in that we have made referrals to the Capital Markets group. I work closely with Cormac Kissane and Glenn Butt, Arthur Cox’s leading structured finance partners. Some large transactions that we have been involved in recently include the listing of Wal-Mart Inc., Manpower Inc. and Textron Inc. We also worked on the Morgan Stanley programme, the Royal Bank of Scotland deals, the Barclays and the UBS programmes.
The listing agencies that operate in Dublin have done so for many years. In spite of this highly competitive environment, the Arthur Cox Listings Team was placed within the top three listing agents in Dublin within ten months of its creation. Such success has been greatly helped by the facts that we work very well as a close team in Listings and because our team has been given phenomenal support from everyone right across the firm.
« Back
to Business Services
|
