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AECOM of Los Angeles, CA, won a Stevie Award for Investor Relations Program of the Year in The 2008 International Business Awards. Here we look at how they handled one of the largest engineering industry IPOs of all time.
AECOM is likely the largest company that you may never have heard of. With more than 43,000 employees and offices around the world, it is involved in everything from transportation and building engineering to the environment and international development assistance. Don’t look now, but it’s probably currently involved in a project near you.
In the spring of 2007, AECOM planned to issue an Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange. It would be one of the 10 largest NYSE listings in 2007, and one of the largest engineering industry IPOs of all time—but AECOM’s main challenge was to make sure that the world understood the growth potential of this global company.
Communications Strategy
AECOM’s Corporate Communications team, headed by Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Paul Gennaro, put together an integrated communications strategy for the IPO launch consisting of employee communications, investment community outreach, and public relations.
The main thrust of the strategy was to communicate AECOM’s story to the investment community, explaining its business and demonstrating its achievements, strengths, and market opportunities. AECOM needed to increase positive coverage in the business media, positioning AECOM as an industry leader with strong growth prospects, in order to achieve strong valuation for AECOM shares and to open trading at or above the initial IPO price.
An important aspect of the IPO was to engage employees and create a desire in those employees to hold shares, and to unify the global employee base behind the corporate brand.
AECOM Who?
While AECOM was known primarily in industry circles for its work in architecture and engineering design, it had minor recognition on Wall Street. As a parent company to regional professional firms, AECOM needed to introduce a unified corporate identity and an integrated approach to communications with its public debut.
Substantial internal outreach was critical to the success of the IPO. Restructuring AECOM into a public company could not compromise employee loyalty or willingness to hold company shares.
Smart Tactics
The Corporate Communications team analyzed global competitor messaging and AECOM’s internal messaging. It also examined analyst coverage of key competitors; reviewed communications best practices for several publicly traded companies; and initiated regular phone and in-person briefings with analysts.
An important part of the program was employee communications. An interactive employee presentation, “AECOM’s Proposed IPO: Understanding this Important Event,” addressed employees’ concerns and FAQs. The CEO sent each employee a letter outlining the status and benefits of the IPO. The employee newsletter, AECOM World Weekly, also covered the IPO on a regular basis.
Communications with the business press and the IR community included an investor road show; a continuously updated IR website; timely press releases and filings; and ads in The Wall Street Journal. The Corporate Communications team’s outreach also included interactions and relationships with high-tech industry research and analyst firms.
These efforts resulted in coverage of AECOM in national business and trade outlets, including Investor’s Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, the Los Angeles Business Journal, “Mad Money” on CNBC, and Engineering News-Record (ENR).
Ringing the Bell
The IPO priced at $20 per share, at the top of its range. The stock opened trading at $21.10, and five months after the IPO reached its highest price to date of $38.25. AECOM’s stock has performed consistently ever since, and is currently trading around $30 a share. Additionally, on the day after the IPO–May 11, 2007–AECOM rang the NYSE Opening Bell
AECOM earned considerable business and media coverage on listing day and beyond, including a cover story in the leading industry trade magazine, ENR. CNBC has also invited AECOM’s CEO to appear several times on various programs. Perhaps most importantly, 81% of employees maintained shares in the company after the IPO, evidence of their continuing commitment to, and belief in, AECOM’s future growth opportunity.
Positive Returns
AECOM appeared on the Fortune 500 list for the first time this year, at number 458. More significantly, in April Fortune named just 24 top-performing stocks over the past year—stocks which offered positive returns to shareholders during the harshest bear market of recent times—and AECOM ranked number 14 on this list.
About Paul Gennaro:
Paul Gennaro is Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, and the Chief Communications Officer for AECOM Technology Corp. (NYSE: ACM), a $5.9-billion global provider of professional technical and management support services with more than 43,000 employees. In this role, Gennaro leads all aspects of AECOM’s global corporate communications efforts.
Gennaro, who joined AECOM in March of 2006, has over twenty years of experience managing corporate communications and public relations. Prior to joining AECOM, he managed all global corporate and marketing communications for Johns Manville, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. He has also held communications leadership roles for brands such as Ingersoll-Rand, Dell, and American Express Company. He began his career as a print/broadcast journalist and public affairs officer for the U.S. Navy.
Gennaro is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, a select professional association composed primarily of chief communications officers representing the world’s largest companies and CEOs of the world's largest public relations agencies. He is also a member of the Council of Communications Management, the National Investor Relations Institute, the International Association of Business Communicators, and the Public Relations Society of America.
About AECOM:
AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental, and energy. With more than 43,000 employees around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. AECOM provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation, and technical excellence in delivering solutions that enhance and sustain the world's built, natural, and social environments. A Fortune 500 company, AECOM serves clients in more than 100 countries and had revenue of $5.9 billion during the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009. More information on AECOM and its services can be found at www.aecom.com. |
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