Australian Finance Minister Nick Minchin described the outcome of the third instalment sale of Tesltra (T3) as a “stunning result”. Originally planned at A$8 billion, the offering drew so much interest the government ended up selling double that amount to retail and institutional investors. At A$15.5 billion, this was the second largest equity deal of the year 2006.

Media Tree was appointed as the roadshow coordinator after a highly competitive selection process that lasted close to one year. We had only 9 days to put in place the whole roadshow, a 5-week, 3-team extravanganza covering 137,414km, 597 institutional investors, 131 1-1 meetings and 839 retail brokers. In Australia we visited Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide twice in the space of two weeks (first to cover retail interest, then for the institutional tranche), before jetting off to Asia and Europe, then the USA simultaneously with the different teams. Media Tree operated a dual-execution desk from London and Sydney which ensured all the aspects of the roadshow were covered 24/7 and the banks’ ECM/syndicate and roadshow teams could liaise in real-time with our people throughout the marketing period. The events we produced ranged from very large (a few hundred people in large domes and exhibition centres) to small targeted 1-few meetings. Each one was adapted to suit the requirements of the investor audience.

Through meticulous management, Media Tree came well below budget on the combined retail and institutional roadshows, despite managing a number of last-minute changes on the road.

At the end of the roadshow, Telstra, the Ministry of Finance and the Joint Global Coordinators all wrote to us expressing their thanks, which can be summed up in the words of CFO John Stanhope: “I know where to go to get the best in any future roadshows”.