Transactions

Preparing and supporting communications for corporate transactions is one of our core competencies. HNS regularly occupies top places in M&A rankings in the communications sector.

Mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and other capital market transactions are among the most profoundly significant events a company can face, impacting all stakeholders in multiple ways. Effectively communicating the merits of each transaction directly to a company’s key audiences is one of our core skills.

M&A and shareholder activism

We provide high-level strategic communications advice to boards and senior executives, scenario planning for various expected and unexpected contingencies, and a full suite of communications documents tailored to each relevant audience. In these scenarios, we also frequently tap our firm’s other relevant practice areas as needed, drawing on the expertise of our public affairs and transformation experts.

IPOs and capital market transactions

The transition to becoming a public company represents an important moment in the development of a business.

HNS helps its clients in every aspect of that process, from developing a company’s positioning to building its IR infrastructure and training executives for effective roadshow presentations.

Our mission is to provide a solid foundation for further growth.

IR advisory

We advise our listed clients to develop investor relations programs that reflect their intrinsic value and future growth potential. The services we provide include preparing results reports and targeted communications for investors, analysts and the financial media.

Through our global H/Advisors network we have access to experts from a variety of backgrounds, including sell-side analysts and buy-side investors.

ESG Communication

ESG is the term used for a business’s engagement with environmental, social and governance criteria. ESG criteria are becoming increasingly important factors in investment decisions. Our partners have extensive experience in ESG communications consultancy for businesses.

ESG criteria play an increasingly fundamental role when assessing a company’s performance, risk exposures and sustainable value creation. This trend is being driven primarily by regulations, investor demands and pressure from a wide range of stakeholders, including customers, clients and the public. ESG forms a key component of credit ratings and ultimately influences a company’s ability to generate economic value on a sustainable basis.

Although the regulations and dynamics informing the ESG debate vary from region to region, investors worldwide care about ESG for two main reasons: risk management and value creation.

Integrated ESG strategy

HNS advises companies on all questions concerning ESG. We provide a multi-level approach, engaging across the corporate structure with all the key stakeholders: internally with employees, investor relations, top management and the board; externally with the company’s main stakeholders.

As consultants, we help our customers develop a comprehensive ESG communications strategy. We design and conduct peer reviews, benchmarking and investor surveys. We deliver stakeholder mapping and action plans. We advise on ESG reporting, ratings and rankings. And we help design and implement comprehensive ESG training programs for employees.

Transformation

Transforming corporate structures and processes requires clear thinking, lucid explanation, and high degrees of trust throughout the organization. As companies grapple with the need to change, often on multiple fronts, communication plays a crucial role in overcoming internal resistance and change-fatigue in order for new ways of working to be adopted.

Our partners and advisors have long experience in working with our clients to analyze their challenges, identify the most appropriate approach and apply the tools best suited to the situation.

Our role is to help clients introduce new structures and improve processes, and above all to bring about successful cultural transformation.

We offer comprehensive support in all phases of transformation. These include:

Strategic alignment

We help our clients develop and place their messages. We integrate all levels of the company into the internal communications strategy and provide support for all communications measures, even after the transformation.

M&A and post-merger transformation

We support our customers throughout the entire process – from transaction to transformation. We help conceive, draft and implement the pre-merger and “day one” strategy. The ultimate goal is for the transformation to run smoothly without disrupting business processes. We offer media training for management. We work together on developing the new corporate culture. We work on roadshows and lighthouse marketing projects. We deliver cultural awareness, integration and dialog programs. And we are hands-on throughout the post-merger integration process.

Restructuring

In any restructuring process, it is vital to define and formulate the right content. This includes the storyline and messaging specific to identified target groups. We design the entire communications process and hold information events for managers, employees, politicians, major customers and suppliers. We help managers communicate their messages. And we ensure that our clients are fully prepared for all eventualities (crisis prevention, scenario planning and leak strategies).

Cultural change

As external consultants, we assess and analyze the cultural change associated with a transformation. We help businesses adjust their goals, draft mission statements and design properly targeted internal communications. It is important to ensure that all managers and employees understand the new set-up and their new roles, so they can perform them successfully.

Blockchain

Blockchain technology today is what the Internet was in the 1990s. It has huge potential and will continue to develop fast in the years to come. Blockchain will be a driver for economic growth and a powerful catalyst for transformation within global corporations. Blockchain’s impact will be most powerful where new ideas combine with scale of reach to consumers, clients, suppliers and investors.

We help companies realize this potential in terms of positioning and communication. With our knowledge of Switzerland and with our partner Havas Sovereign Technologies, we have the resources to help our clients design and execute global strategies.

Our joint offering covers:

• Developing market positioning strategies
• Analysis of target audiences and opinion leaders
• Stakeholder engagement strategies for business, political, regulatory, media and investor audiences
• Content strategies and multi-channel implementation
• Local know-how and resources needed to efficiently deploy positioning strategies and campaigns globally
• Media
• Investors
• Social media

Capital market analysis

Success on the capital markets depends on state-of-the-art analysis and effective positioning strategies. HNS offers comprehensive advice in these areas. We have access to the data analytics and information that investors use. We understand what moves capital markets, individual investors and competitors, and we use this knowledge to develop successful strategies, equity stories and corporate positioning.

Latest developments confirm that passive investments are becoming more and more important (in the US at the end of 2019 passive index trackers accounted for a higher share of assets than active equity funds). More and more shareholdings are tied to structured products that reflect customized investment ideas. ESG criteria and their growing importance create additional complexity.

All of this makes it even more important for companies to gain access to the right information as early as possible, but it is also vital that they have the capacity to analyze this data correctly and effectively.

To ensure the best possible analysis, we work with Move Digital AG, which uses innovative technologies such as data models, natural language processing and artificial intelligence to identify the information required for lasting success. Quantitative analysis provides real-time, data-driven insights into global markets and helps us identify short- and long-term opportunities.

Based on this data and analysis, the Partners at HNS develop the optimal capital market positioning and communications strategies.