IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

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Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

Event-Driven

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/suchuang-gas-corp-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:304:1" rel="noopener">Suchuang Gas Corp (1430 HK)</a> is the dominant piped natural gas operator in Taicang, Jiangsu Province. After market close on Wednesday, it announced a privatisation offer by way of a scheme of arrangement from <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-resources-gas-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20525:1" rel="noopener">CR Gas (1193 HK)</a>. The offeror will offer either a cash alternative (HK$2.50 in cash for each scheme share) or a share alternative (1 new share in HoldCo for every scheme share).The bid represents a premium of 27.6% over the closing price of HK$1.96 per share on the undisturbed date (10 August 2021 prior to irregular price movements) and a premium of 2.9% over the closing price of HK$2.43 per share on the last trading date (13 August 2021 prior to the trading halt). The completion conditions include regulatory approvals from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) and State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). As CR Gas is a subsidiary of China Resources (Holdings) Company Limited, an SOE, regulatory approval should be forthcoming. <div class="content-highlight">The key condition precedents are the headcount test along with the scheme approved by at least 75% disinterested shareholders and &lt;10% rejection by all disinterested shareholders. As disinterested scheme shareholders represent 565.4 million shares or 62.61% of shares outstanding, the 10% blocking stake is 56.5 million shares or 6.26% of shares outstanding. Excluding the irrecovables, no disinterested shareholder holds a blocking stake. Overall, we think the offer price is ok and that the privatisation bid will be successful. </div>

Suchuang Gas Corp (1430 HK) is the dominant piped natural gas operator in Taicang, Jiangsu Province. After market close on Wednesday, it announced a privatisation offer by way of a scheme of arrangement from CR Gas (1193 HK). The offeror will offer either a cash alternative (HK$2.50 in cash for each scheme share) or a share alternative (1 new share in HoldCo for every scheme share).The bid represents a premium of 27.6% over the closing price of HK$1.96 per share on the undisturbed date (10 August 2021 prior to irregular price movements) and a premium of 2.9% over the closing price of HK$2.43 per share on the last trading date (13 August 2021 prior to the trading halt). The completion conditions include regulatory approvals from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) and State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). As CR Gas is a subsidiary of China Resources (Holdings) Company Limited, an SOE, regulatory approval should be forthcoming. The key condition precedents are the headcount test along with the scheme approved by at least 75% disinterested shareholders and &lt;10% rejection by all disinterested shareholders. As disinterested scheme shareholders represent 565.4 million shares or 62.61% of shares outstanding, the 10% blocking stake is 56.5 million shares or 6.26% of shares outstanding. Excluding the irrecovables, no disinterested shareholder holds a blocking stake. Overall, we think the offer price is ok and that the privatisation bid will be successful. 

Suchuang Gas’ Privatisation Bid from CR Gas

HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

Equity Bottom-Up

We came out of the post-1H21 result call of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kunlun-energy-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10054:1" rel="noopener">Kunlun Energy (135 HK)</a> with unchanged positive view, and the message from management suggested that outlook for 2H21 stay promising and the pull-back in share price is unwarranted. We increased our earnings forecasts and based on our latest projections, Kunlun is trading on just 9.2x PER for FY21 (on continuing operations), making it the cheapest among China's gas utilities stocks.We think the good new project momentum, stable margin outlook, commencement of new projects, better profitability at LNG terminals and stronger LPG volume are the major drivers for Kunlun. We estimate an ROE of 10.6% for FY21, and yet it will still be in a net cash position at end-FY21, which compares well with most peers which are at much higher leverage levels.

We came out of the post-1H21 result call of Kunlun Energy (135 HK) with unchanged positive view, and the message from management suggested that outlook for 2H21 stay promising and the pull-back in share price is unwarranted. We increased our earnings forecasts and based on our latest projections, Kunlun is trading on just 9.2x PER for FY21 (on continuing operations), making it the cheapest among China's gas utilities stocks.We think the good new project momentum, stable margin outlook, commencement of new projects, better profitability at LNG terminals and stronger LPG volume are the major drivers for Kunlun. We estimate an ROE of 10.6% for FY21, and yet it will still be in a net cash position at end-FY21, which compares well with most peers which are at much higher leverage levels.

Kunlun Energy (135 HK): Quick Take After Post-1H21 Call, Stays Positive

We see the 1H21 earnings report of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/enn-energy-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:316:1" rel="noopener">ENN Energy (2688 HK)</a> is a healthy one, given a 18.4% YoY growth in core earnings. Its gross margin contracted 0.7pp YoY with only gas wholesale segment recording margin expansion. In particular, just 11% growth in retail gas gross profit and a Rmb0.05/cu.m. or about 8.2% YoY contraction in dollar margin are concerns.Management expects slower gas sales growth in 2H21 with stable margin. It secured 4 new city-gas projects in 1H21 which looks slow, though the integrated energy segment has 16 new projects. While the 1H21 result itself is not bad, we think its 20.6x PER for FY21 does not provide much upside potential from current level. After a 45% rally YTD and only 9.2% off all-time high, we see risk that ENN is vulnerable to profit-taking in the near term, based on the excuse of weaker-than-expected retail gas business.

We see the 1H21 earnings report of ENN Energy (2688 HK) is a healthy one, given a 18.4% YoY growth in core earnings. Its gross margin contracted 0.7pp YoY with only gas wholesale segment recording margin expansion. In particular, just 11% growth in retail gas gross profit and a Rmb0.05/cu.m. or about 8.2% YoY contraction in dollar margin are concerns.Management expects slower gas sales growth in 2H21 with stable margin. It secured 4 new city-gas projects in 1H21 which looks slow, though the integrated energy segment has 16 new projects. While the 1H21 result itself is not bad, we think its 20.6x PER for FY21 does not provide much upside potential from current level. After a 45% rally YTD and only 9.2% off all-time high, we see risk that ENN is vulnerable to profit-taking in the near term, based on the excuse of weaker-than-expected retail gas business.  

ENN Energy (2688 HK): Concerns on Margin Squeeze, Key Takeaways from Post-Result Call

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Hong Kong Exchange publishes share repurchases by listed companies on a daily basis. In our weekly note, we will provide statistics on top repurchases over one week, one month, one quarter and one year periods ended on Jul 30.In the past 7 days, the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market were  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xiaomi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24409:1" rel="noopener">Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK)</a> (HKD 196.9 million worth of buybacks), <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/new-world-development" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:7037:1" rel="noopener">New World Development (17 HK)</a> (HKD 170.2 million worth of buybacks), <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-gas-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14315:1" rel="noopener">China Gas Holdings (384 HK)</a> (HKD 86.6 million worth of buybacks).

Hong Kong Exchange publishes share repurchases by listed companies on a daily basis. In our weekly note, we will provide statistics on top repurchases over one week, one month, one quarter and one year periods ended on Jul 30.In the past 7 days, the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market were  Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK) (HKD 196.9 million worth of buybacks), New World Development (17 HK) (HKD 170.2 million worth of buybacks), China Gas Holdings (384 HK) (HKD 86.6 million worth of buybacks).

Hong Kong Buybacks: HK$200m Buyback by Xiaomi

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kunlun-energy-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10054:1" rel="noopener">Kunlun Energy (135 HK)</a> should have a decent operating performance in 1H21, with good growth achieved for natural gas sales, LPG sales, LNG terminal and also the exploration and production segment. Their performance all look to be ahead of the full-year guidance put forward in FY20 result announcement in Mar 2021 - this is encouraging.Gas project M&amp;A momentum stays decent and, with IRRs of 10-12%, the returns are ahead of the hurdle level of 8%. Following <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-gas-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14315:1" rel="noopener">China Gas Holdings' (384 HK)</a>  Shiyan gas explosion, local governments now prefer large SOEs to invest in projects given their more stringent safety standards, and this is an advantage of Kunlun. The gas industry also entails less regulatory risks amid government's heightened regulatory measures towards various industries lately. The recent pull-back has made valuations even more appealing, in our view.

Kunlun Energy (135 HK) should have a decent operating performance in 1H21, with good growth achieved for natural gas sales, LPG sales, LNG terminal and also the exploration and production segment. Their performance all look to be ahead of the full-year guidance put forward in FY20 result announcement in Mar 2021 - this is encouraging.Gas project M&amp;A momentum stays decent and, with IRRs of 10-12%, the returns are ahead of the hurdle level of 8%. Following China Gas Holdings' (384 HK)  Shiyan gas explosion, local governments now prefer large SOEs to invest in projects given their more stringent safety standards, and this is an advantage of Kunlun. The gas industry also entails less regulatory risks amid government's heightened regulatory measures towards various industries lately. The recent pull-back has made valuations even more appealing, in our view.  

Kunlun Energy (135 HK): Positive Takeaways from Discussion with Company

Hong Kong

China Gas Holdings Ltd. invests in, operates and manages natural gas distribution pipelines.  The Company distributes and sells natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial users, and bottles and sells compressed natural gas.  China Gas also constructs and operates gas stations.

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China Gas Holdings (384 HK)

Suchuang Gas’ Privatisation Bid from CR Gas

Suchuang Gas received a privatisation offer from CR Gas for a cash alternative (HK$2.50) or a share alternative. We think the offer price is ok and...

Arun George

Kunlun Energy (135 HK): Quick Take After Post-1H21 Call, Stays Positive

Our impression on Kunlun remains unchanged after the post-1H21 result call. Outlook is still encouraging and new project momentum is solid. Our...

Osbert Tang, CFA

ENN Energy (2688 HK): Concerns on Margin Squeeze, Key Takeaways from Post-Result Call

ENN's has a healthy 1H21 but the concerns are the slow growth in retail gas segment and the sharp contraction in margin. With 45% YTD rally and at...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Hong Kong Buybacks: HK$200m Buyback by Xiaomi

We highlight the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market this week were Xiaomi (1810 HK), New World Development (17 HK),...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Kunlun Energy (135 HK): Positive Takeaways from Discussion with Company

Kunlun Energy should have a decent 1H21 driven by good natural gas sales, LPG sales, LNG terminal and recovery of the exploration and production...

Osbert Tang, CFA

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