When IR and Compliance Clash: Practical Tips for Building a Strong Partnership Between the Teams (Part Two of Two)

Investor relations (IR) and compliance teams must work together to produce investor communications, but their missions can seem to run contrary to each other. To attract investors in a competitive market, IR professionals usually want to present the most favorable picture of the firm’s performance. At the same time, compliance strives to ensure materials present a complete – but often less flattering – portrait that complies with relevant laws and regulations. PE sponsors need to adopt extra measures and care to ensure the inherent tension between those roles does not lead to internal strife; inefficiencies; or, in the worst case, legal and regulatory issues. This two-part series draws on interviews conducted by the Private Equity Law Report with current and former in-house legal, compliance, marketing and IR professionals to advise CCOs and GCs how to build strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with their IR and marketing colleagues. This second article contains practical tips for achieving that relationship, including the mindset of the parties involved, training, effective communication and process to be put into place. The first article discussed pressure points and factors contributing to some of the inherent tension between the two sides. For more on managing internal relationships, see “How Compliance and HR Can Work Together” (Jun. 2, 2020); and “How Constrained Decision Making, Along With Legal and Compliance Leadership, Can Help Reduce Fund Manager Bias (Part Four of Four)” (Nov. 1, 2018).

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