Lincoln Liu – Rawson Lewis

Lincoln Liu is a co-founder of corporate advisory firm Rawson Lewis, based in Sydney and Melbourne. Rawson Lewis provides ECM advisory services to companies in technology, resources, healthcare & industrials. Their investor clients include family offices, HNW investors and institutions in Australia and Asia.

What stock have you recently been looking at?
Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: RCE) is a company which I have avidly followed (and have shares). It has a synthetic antibiotic called Recce 327, shown to work well compared to standard treatment, against a number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (or superbugs), even after repeated use. The next phase for Recce is to test safety in human clinical trials (Phase I), starting later this year. A major leap of faith for biotech investors is often whether or not animal studies translate to humans. It is rather interesting that in a recent announcement they mentioned that a physician has been self-dosing Recce 327 to prove safety (albeit one data point).

What is the most challenging aspect of raising money?
One of the most enjoyable challenges of working with companies is to develop a shareholder holder register with a targeted mix of strategic, institutional, HNW and retail investors. This requires an ongoing and thoughtful approach to enable investors to gain a better understanding of business drivers and ensure a flow of information. It’s critical to keep an open-mind when formulating to serve each company’s specific requirements and to do the hard work upfront.

What is unique about your firm’s philosophy/value-proposition as compared to your competitors? 
Our team at Rawson Lewis has worked collectively, through previous partnerships and projects, over a number of decades. So we’re a very tight knit group with great respect for each other. We’ve formed a team which is very experienced across a number of sectors (resources, technology, healthcare & industrials) but also breadth across transaction size/type & business life cycles. In terms of advisory and working closely with our investor clients, we approach these valued relationships over the long term aiming to partner and share success. I think a good example of this is our Disruptive Technology Series which we have been running for a number of years. Most of our presenters are early stage startups with really compelling business models but not quite ready for a pre-IPO/IPO. Our goal is to help these companies add upfront value early, thinking about working more formally later once the company has matured.

What methods would you use to source new clients? 
Primarily word of mouth.

Who is your inspiration and why?
Shane Warne was my first inspiration. Growing up in Wagga Wagga you basically had to play a sport – or risk having very drawn out weekends and holidays. I played cricket and was quickly attracted to the unique talent and aura of Warney. I spent hundreds of hours of bowling leg spin in the backyard and nets trying to replicate his repertoire. During high school, I was so keen to meet Warney I ran a fundraiser lunch for his charity in the hope that he would pick up the cheque in person! Ray Martin kindly dropped by to pick it up instead.

What would you have become if you did not take stockbroking/corporate advisory as your career?
With Warney as my childhood hero, I dreamed of playing cricket for Australia! 

How can people connect with you?
Email:
Website: http://www.rawsonlewis.com/

Signup for the next Rawson Lewis Disruptive tech lunch: 
http://www.rawsonlewis.com/rawson-lewis-disruptive-technology-lunch-series-upcoming/