What is the role of an investment officer in a holding company?
Posted by: Mansour Baker
The Investment Officer is responsible for reviewing and managing the subsidiaries’ performance, achieving integration and synergies where possible and assisting in enhancing sales of subsidiaries. His/her role also includes supervising the execution of all group treasury, corporate finance, and financial risk management activities.
|
Key Accountabilities
Review and management of performance of subsidiaries
- Assists the Subsidiaries’ Management in developing strategies
- Reviews and provides approval of business plans, budgets, investment plans, performance plans, senior resource plans, senior succession plans for all subsidiaries
- Supervises monitoring and control of performance of subsidiaries’ operating budgets versus plan, identifying key areas of variance
- Makes recommendations regarding corrective actions, validates action plans for change and monitors their implementation
- Reports to the Board on performance of subsidiaries
- Supervises the review of growth project appraisals of subsidiaries and the evaluation against corporate strategy
- Provides inputs for business planning, operating budgets and KPIs for the company, subsidiaries and affiliates
Integration of subsidiaries and realization of synergies
- Identifies subsidiaries for integration and potential synergies between subsidiaries
- Reviews and validates the plan to execute and control integration of subsidiaries
- Reviews and validates the plan to realize synergies between subsidiaries
- Reviews and validates business cases for integration and the realization of synergies
- Coordinates with the subsidiaries and team to implement the integration, provide post integration assistance and monitor KPIs
Sales enhancement of subsidiaries
- Assists in the formation of joint sales teams across subsidiaries that serve same clients
- Sets targets and encourage providing 1-stop-shop solution to key clients
- Drives sales efforts of similar solutions to clients
- Forms partnership with client accounts for providing services/products, materials, and equipment
Group Treasury & Corporate Finance
- Reviews and validates annual cash flow projections
- Evaluates and validates capital needs and ensure the activities required to acquire funding from financial institutions are undertaken, and that funding costs are optimized
- Evaluates company’s investment returns against the plan and the financial objectives set for by the CEO and the Board
Group Risk Management
- Defines risk control strategy in consultation with the Board
- Reviews and validates action plans to manage risks, including operational, financial, corporate & reputational risks
- Reviews and validates measures of risks, and the analysis for causes and implications
- Works with the Business Development Department to evaluate the risks (financial and otherwise) of potential investments and maintain a risk balanced portfolio of investment opportunities
Organizational Relationships
- Keeps CEO and members of the Investment Committee informed as to functional activities
- The focal point for all the subsidiaries’ CEOs, he/she regularly consults with, advises, and informs them on matters of performance management, integration and sales enhancement objectives and business growth, and reviews business opportunities
Reporting
- Oversees the preparation and generation of subsidiaries monthly and quarterly financial performance reports of actual results vs. budget and comparison to the previous year
- Highlights deviations from the original budget and raises questions to top management of the subsidiaries for clarification and justification
- Presents consolidated performance reports of subsidiaries to the company board of directors for review
Qualifications
- Minimum 10 years of relevant experience with at least 5 years in a senior management or similar role
- Bachelors (Masters preferred) degree in Finance
- CFA certification and MBA in business administration is preferable
- Demonstrates expertise in financial risk management
- Successful track record in the integration of companies and demonstration of substantial value
- Strong leadership and team-building skills
Technical Competencies
The below are technical competencies that are closely aligned with the key accountabilities:
Financial Analysis
- The ability to analyze financial statements and data to provide insights about the financial performance and position of the organization over time and in comparison.
Business Planning
- The ability to analyze business trends, implications, and options to devise holistic and plans.
Budgeting
- The ability to compile, formulate, present, and execute a budget over a specific period, as well as to monitor the use of expenditures.
Financial Reporting
- The ability to prepare financial reports and financial statements using appropriate regulatory requirements on the organization’s operations and financial conditions (including quality and sustainability reporting, customer profitability).
Marketing
- The ability to source, identify and assess current business and new business opportunities for market penetration.
Business Performance
- The ability to monitor, evaluate and quantify business performance, for a defined period, which may include planned sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expenses, assets, liabilities, and cash flows as well as non-financial metrics.