Last week I attended the ‘Roxhill meets… Ivan Levingston’ event. This series provides the chance to switch roles, where journalists are interviewed by PR and comms professionals.
Covering everything from the media landscape, to deal size and international stories, I had the opportunity to meet Ivan Levingston, European Deals Reporter for the Financial Times.
Ivan shared his insights on what his day typically looks like, what his role for the FT involves, and what interests him.
Below I share some event takeaways:
Deal size matters
The deals team, or as they refer to it ‘the movement’, is cross-sector. The industry vertical doesn’t matter as long as it’s a holistically interesting and significant deal. Levingston often covers deals in the industrial, healthcare, and consumer sectors, but as a former tech journalist for Bloomberg, he also tends to gravitate towards the tech sector. Deal size matters, but there is no minimum threshold.
International collaboration
The London FT team also collaborates with the international teams, sharing stories with the relevant locations. Levingston’s primary focus is Europe, but has seen an increase in deals across all sectors in the Middle East.
M&A trends
Due to the unstable global economy, M&A has consequently been down this year. To Ivan, there is still no obvious catalyst for what will reopen the floodgates next year. Europe VC investment is down 45 per cent this year. However, AI continued to see funding rounds.
Eyes everywhere
To get the latest news, Levingston reads everything – of course the FT, but also local media, wire services, anything that could give him a potential story. He also likes to listen to podcasts, particularly Press Profiles. The reporters have a daily team call, but are usually always out and about, grabbing coffee, lunch, and drinks to build relationships and research their next big story.
The event was an interesting and informative way to gain insights into what a day looks like for an international journalist, and I’m already looking forward to the next one!
Want to learn more? Get in touch with the team today.
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