Enter a lab where innovation and digital transformation empower senior finance executives to become true strategic partners of the business.
NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab delivers thought leadership through conversations with finance executives at leading companies and finance industry experts. Hear how practitioners are advancing finance’s transformation into a strategic partner to the business and driver of enterprise performance by providing data-driven insight to support decision-making. Our vision: to promote a free-flowing knowledge exchange and be a source of innovative solutions.
The Convertible Bond Boom: An Expert Looks Under the Hood
The race to fund AI has corporations raising capital across every market available to them, and a growing number are turning to the convertible bond. Issuance of convertibles set a record in 2025 and is running faster still this year, as companies weigh the lower coupons they offer against a potential obstacle: because investors can convert the bonds into stock at a preset price, a rising share price can dilute existing shareholders.
In this sponsored episode of NeuGroup's Strategic Finance Lab podcast , peer group leader Andrew Weber speaks with Raj Imteaz, head of convertible and equity derivative advisory at ICR Capital, to break down what's fueling the surge, how a treasury team can tell whether a convertible fits its balance sheet, and how to handle what can be a complex execution process.
Much of what's driving the boom, Mr. Imteaz says, is the enormous capital that high-performance computing and AI (HPC-AI) build-outs demand, pulling a widening set of issuers into a market long dominated by high-growth and tech names.
Against straight debt or equity, the pitch is straightforward: a far lower coupon than regular bonds, and much less dilution than an equity raise. But Mr. Imteaz is clear that a convertible is just a tool in the toolkit, not necessarily fit for every balance sheet. He unravels the intricacies of the capped call, also known as a call spread, an overlay companies buy to push out the point at which a rising stock creates new shares—essentially, an insurance policy to mitigate stock dilution.
8 Jul 2026
How an Auditor-Turned-Treasurer Creates Value From the Ground Up
Lam Research treasurer Adam King discusses the company’s global expansion, AI and the lessons from audit that continue to shape his approach to treasury.
Treasury leaders often talk about becoming a strategic partner to the business. Mr. King believes the path there is more straightforward than many may realize: focus first on operations, efficiency and controls. In the latest episode of the Strategic Finance Lab podcast, Mr. King explains to NeuGroup's Justin Jones how his experience in controllership and internal audit shaped that philosophy and why day-to-day excellence builds the credibility needed to influence broader business decisions. "If we can build efficiencies internally, the team has more time to go off, sit down with business partners and get ahead of things,” he says in the podcast. “By doing that and getting in front of things, it's going to alleviate a ton of work for our team.”
He explores how Lam's treasury team supports the company's global expansion by getting involved early in new projects, helping business partners anticipate banking, KYC, tax and cash management requirements before they become bottlenecks. In one example, Mr. King shares how that rapid growth created an unexpected credit-limit challenge—and how his team got ahead of it. The episode also examines how Lam is approaching AI in treasury, from developing specialized agents for insurance and letters of credit to encouraging treasury professionals and systems experts to collaborate in redesigning long-standing processes.
Throughout the discussion, Mr. King returns to a simple idea: treasury earns a strategic seat at the table not by pursuing strategy for its own sake, but by consistently helping the business execute more effectively.
3 Jun 2026
AI Boom, Geopolitical Risk: Navigating Debt Market Crosscurrents
Investment-grade debt issuance fueled by hyperscalers continues at a record pace, and a new wave of AI-related IPOs—including filings and preparations by Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX—is cause for cautious optimism among investors and corporates. Despite persistent market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, strong investor demand is creating opportunities for companies both within and beyond the AI ecosystem, according to Sidney Dillard, partner and head of corporate investment banking at Loop Capital.
In the latest episode of NeuGroup's Strategic Finance Lab podcast available on Apple and Spotify, she discusses with NeuGroup's Justin Jones why investment-grade debt markets remain resilient, how private capital is changing the IPO equation and what treasury teams should be doing now to stay prepared.
In the podcast, Ms. Dillard discusses:
The strong pace of investment-grade debt issuance, supported by healthy demand and financing needs tied to AI infrastructure, M&A and refinancing activity.
Why hyperscaler debt issuance is not necessarily crowding out other issuers.
The opportunity provided by private capital, allowing many firms to stay private longer while still accessing growth capital and liquidity.
How treasury teams should think about timing market access amid geopolitical uncertainty and market volatility.
Loop Capital's approach to helping clients manage both financing and investment needs.
Who has been a guest on Strategic Finance Lab
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Mike Richards
Brian Hagen
Laurence Tosi
Ed Barrie
Thomas Gavaghan
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Podcast Authority Score: 58 / 100
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60
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