IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

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.

Equity Capital Markets

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/phc-holdings-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:34198:1" rel="noopener">PHC Holdings (6523 JP)</a> is a leading diversified diagnostic, life sciences and medical device company serving global markets. PHC shareholders include <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kkr-co-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27333:1" rel="noopener">KKR &amp; Co Inc (KKR US)</a> (owns 48.0% of PHC), <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20799:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP)</a> (21.1%), Life Science Institute (13.2%) and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/panasonic-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:222:1" rel="noopener">Panasonic Corp (6752 JP)</a> (11.3%).PHC plans to raise JPY172 billion ($1.57 billion) by offering 5.8 million primary shares and 40.7 million secondary shares at an indicative price of JPY3,700 per share. KKR, Mitsui &amp; Co, Life Science Institute, Panasonic and LCA 3 Moonshot are the selling shareholders. Books will open from 28 September to 4 October. The deal will price on 6 October and the shares are due to list on 14 October. <div class="content-highlight">At first glance, PHC offers solid growth, stable and healthy margins along with solid cash generation. However, on an organic basis, the revenue has declined in each of the last two financial years. The strong growth in the recent first quarter was largely due to low comps and an unsustainable revenue boost from COVID-19 related products. On balance, we think that PHC’s fundamentals are mixed and we are inclined to watch this IPO from the sidelines. </div>

PHC Holdings (6523 JP) is a leading diversified diagnostic, life sciences and medical device company serving global markets. PHC shareholders include KKR &amp; Co Inc (KKR US) (owns 48.0% of PHC), Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP) (21.1%), Life Science Institute (13.2%) and Panasonic Corp (6752 JP) (11.3%).PHC plans to raise JPY172 billion ($1.57 billion) by offering 5.8 million primary shares and 40.7 million secondary shares at an indicative price of JPY3,700 per share. KKR, Mitsui &amp; Co, Life Science Institute, Panasonic and LCA 3 Moonshot are the selling shareholders. Books will open from 28 September to 4 October. The deal will price on 6 October and the shares are due to list on 14 October. At first glance, PHC offers solid growth, stable and healthy margins along with solid cash generation. However, on an organic basis, the revenue has declined in each of the last two financial years. The strong growth in the recent first quarter was largely due to low comps and an unsustainable revenue boost from COVID-19 related products. On balance, we think that PHC’s fundamentals are mixed and we are inclined to watch this IPO from the sidelines. 

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

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.

PHC Holdings and its shareholders aim to raise around US$1.8bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Japan IPO. The company is backed by KKR (48.7% stake pre-listing), Mistui (21.5%), Life Science Institute (13.4%) and Panasonic (11.5%).PHC is engaged in the development, manufacturing and sale of healthcare devices and services. The company has three main segments: Diabetes Management (35% of FY21 revenue); Healthcare Services (37.9% of FY21 revenue); and Diagnosis/Life Science (26.1% of FY21 revenue).PHC’s revenue has increased by 64% over FY19-FY21 and it was up another 29% in 1Q22. The growth has mainly been driven by acquisition of a number of firms over the reporting period. Although, its main division, Diabetes Management appears to be suffering from a decline in revenue that has been going on for a while. In addition, it's difficult to pinpoint the growth of its other segments owing to the acquisitions having been completed mid-year.Furthermore, it's not clear to us how the company acts as one firm, as all of its acquired firms appear to be working independently and there hasn’t been much mention of synergies.

PHC Holdings and its shareholders aim to raise around US$1.8bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Japan IPO. The company is backed by KKR (48.7% stake pre-listing), Mistui (21.5%), Life Science Institute (13.4%) and Panasonic (11.5%).PHC is engaged in the development, manufacturing and sale of healthcare devices and services. The company has three main segments: Diabetes Management (35% of FY21 revenue); Healthcare Services (37.9% of FY21 revenue); and Diagnosis/Life Science (26.1% of FY21 revenue).PHC’s revenue has increased by 64% over FY19-FY21 and it was up another 29% in 1Q22. The growth has mainly been driven by acquisition of a number of firms over the reporting period. Although, its main division, Diabetes Management appears to be suffering from a decline in revenue that has been going on for a while. In addition, it's difficult to pinpoint the growth of its other segments owing to the acquisitions having been completed mid-year.Furthermore, it's not clear to us how the company acts as one firm, as all of its acquired firms appear to be working independently and there hasn’t been much mention of synergies.

PHC Holdings Pre-IPO - Many Companies Rolled into One

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

Last November,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20799:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-chemicals-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1703:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui Chemicals (4183 JP)</a> jointly announced they would launch a Tender Offer for the 46% of shares of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/honshu-chemical-industry-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9094:1" rel="noopener">Honshu Chemical Industry (4115 JP)</a> that they did not own.I wrote about it in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/honshu-chemical-4115-an-embarrassment-of-riches" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:45197" rel="noopener">Honshu Chemical (4115) - An Embarrassment of Riches</a>. The deal was that after receiving all the approvals, perhaps in May 2021, they would launch a Tender Offer at ¥1830, which implied an EV//EBITDA of 2.7x.When Q3 earnings were announced in February, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/honshu-chemical-industry-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9094:1" rel="noopener">Honshu Chemical Industry (4115 JP)</a> lifted its OP forecast by 24% and its Net Income forecast by 33% to ¥1.8bn. But as there was no event yet for the Tender Offer, there was no "need" to review the Board's support for the Tender Offer. I wrote about how this was WRONGER in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/honshu-chemical-what-was-the-wrong-price-gets-wronger" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:48124" rel="noopener">Honshu Chemical - What WAS the Wrong Price Gets Wronger</a>.Last week I wrote about how this looked like it might get wronger still. On Friday, Honshu Chemical reported Revenues 2.4% higher than forecast for the full year (note the entire difference arrived in Q4. The OP result was more than 10% higher than the February upward revision to Guidance. The Net Profit number came in at ¥2.06bn, which was 14.4% higher than February guidance and 53% higher than guidance as of the Announcement. The extra cash added to the firm since then amounts to 3.3% of the Tender Offer Price. Conveniently, if any of this beat of forecasts on what the buyers called "high growth potential" would result in forward-looking forecasts different than the original management forecasts (note that the FY2021 OP result was the same as the FY2023 management forecast presented in November), the company is not showing FY2022 forecasts because of the takeover.

Last November,  Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP) and Mitsui Chemicals (4183 JP) jointly announced they would launch a Tender Offer for the 46% of shares of Honshu Chemical Industry (4115 JP) that they did not own.I wrote about it in Honshu Chemical (4115) - An Embarrassment of Riches. The deal was that after receiving all the approvals, perhaps in May 2021, they would launch a Tender Offer at ¥1830, which implied an EV//EBITDA of 2.7x.When Q3 earnings were announced in February, Honshu Chemical Industry (4115 JP) lifted its OP forecast by 24% and its Net Income forecast by 33% to ¥1.8bn. But as there was no event yet for the Tender Offer, there was no "need" to review the Board's support for the Tender Offer. I wrote about how this was WRONGER in Honshu Chemical - What WAS the Wrong Price Gets Wronger.Last week I wrote about how this looked like it might get wronger still. On Friday, Honshu Chemical reported Revenues 2.4% higher than forecast for the full year (note the entire difference arrived in Q4. The OP result was more than 10% higher than the February upward revision to Guidance. The Net Profit number came in at ¥2.06bn, which was 14.4% higher than February guidance and 53% higher than guidance as of the Announcement. The extra cash added to the firm since then amounts to 3.3% of the Tender Offer Price. Conveniently, if any of this beat of forecasts on what the buyers called "high growth potential" would result in forward-looking forecasts different than the original management forecasts (note that the FY2021 OP result was the same as the FY2023 management forecast presented in November), the company is not showing FY2022 forecasts because of the takeover. 

Honshu Chemical Shareholders Get the Short End of the Stick As The Board Is Ex-Gourd

In mid-November 2020, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20799:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-chemicals-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1703:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui Chemicals (4183 JP)</a> announced a transaction to take out minorities in jointly-held subsidiary <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/honshu-chemical-industry-co" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9094:1" rel="noopener">Honshu Chemical Industry Co (4115 JP)</a>. The price was at a 43% premium to then-traded price and a 20-year high. It was also<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/205/873/original/Screenshot+2021-05-13+at+10.55.05+AM.png?1620874520" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="205873"></figure></section>At the time, in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/honshu-chemical-4115-an-embarrassment-of-riches" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:45197" rel="noopener">Honshu Chemical (4115) - An Embarrassment of Riches</a> I said...<blockquote>The result is a governance embarrassment for the two major acquirers, and the target company itself. </blockquote>The two companies, which combined owned 54% of Honshu Chemical, had said <blockquote>the Target has a high potential for growth with its various high-technologies in domains of high-performance monomer[s] related to ICT, Mobility and Healthcare.</blockquote>Then they decided that the "fair" value of the company (the Tender Offer Price) was decided at a 1-year forward EV/EBITDA of 2.7x (where net receivables and inventory was another 1.5x EBITDA), and a 1-year ex-cash PER of 3.7x. <section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/205/993/original/trump+low+price.gif?1620903117" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="205993"></figure></section>Three months later the company revised up its forecasts for EBIT and Net Profit for the full year this year by 25% and 33% respectively in February. This company has minimal debt, huge net cash. If you were to pay out the net cash, this 'fuddy-duddy' cyclical trades at 7x earnings, less than book, with a 16% ROE, and near 50% EBITDAROE.And it "has a high potential for growth."The procedures were expected to be completed in May, and then the tender offer would start. The company reports tomorrow 14 May after the close. Since the announcement, the two parent companies' total share return has averaged +30%. Since the original announcement, Honshu Chemical earnings forecasts are up 33% a share. A basket of mostly Chinese peer pure plays has outperformed Shanghai Composite by 13% since the announcement. This was always bumpable. This remains highly bumpable. With apologies to some of my (non-fella) readers...<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/205/925/original/more+cowbell.gif?1620889670" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="205925"></figure></section>

In mid-November 2020, Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP) and Mitsui Chemicals (4183 JP) announced a transaction to take out minorities in jointly-held subsidiary Honshu Chemical Industry Co (4115 JP). The price was at a 43% premium to then-traded price and a 20-year high. It was alsoAt the time, in Honshu Chemical (4115) - An Embarrassment of Riches I said...The result is a governance embarrassment for the two major acquirers, and the target company itself. The two companies, which combined owned 54% of Honshu Chemical, had said the Target has a high potential for growth with its various high-technologies in domains of high-performance monomer[s] related to ICT, Mobility and Healthcare.Then they decided that the "fair" value of the company (the Tender Offer Price) was decided at a 1-year forward EV/EBITDA of 2.7x (where net receivables and inventory was another 1.5x EBITDA), and a 1-year ex-cash PER of 3.7x. Three months later the company revised up its forecasts for EBIT and Net Profit for the full year this year by 25% and 33% respectively in February. This company has minimal debt, huge net cash. If you were to pay out the net cash, this 'fuddy-duddy' cyclical trades at 7x earnings, less than book, with a 16% ROE, and near 50% EBITDAROE.And it "has a high potential for growth."The procedures were expected to be completed in May, and then the tender offer would start. The company reports tomorrow 14 May after the close. Since the announcement, the two parent companies' total share return has averaged +30%. Since the original announcement, Honshu Chemical earnings forecasts are up 33% a share. A basket of mostly Chinese peer pure plays has outperformed Shanghai Composite by 13% since the announcement. This was always bumpable. This remains highly bumpable. With apologies to some of my (non-fella) readers...

Honshu Chemical (4115) Shareholders Perhaps One Day From a Wrong Price Takeover

On 6 May 2021, Bloomberg reported that <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20799:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP)</a>, the largest shareholder with a 32.90% stake, is currently exploring a proposal to privatise <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ihh-healthcare-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:876:1" rel="noopener">IHH Healthcare (IHH MK)</a>. Mitsui is aiming to partner with private equity firms and has reached out to Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the second-largest shareholder with a 26.02% stake, to acquire its stake, according to Bloomberg. Mitsui and IHH have not formally commented on the report. On the back of the report, the shares have risen 8.8% from the unaffected price of RM5.20 (5 May) to the last close price of RM5.66. IHH is listed on the Main Markets of Bursa Malaysia and the Singapore Stock Exchange. In Malaysia, the threshold for triggering a mandatory general offer (MGO) is the offeror and concert parties owning 33% or more of the voting shares. Mitsui sits just below the threshold and the acquisition of further shares from Khazanah Nasional Berhad would trigger an MGO. <div class="content-highlight">We think that report has some credibility due to Mitsui’s view that IHH is a core asset to fulfil its ambition of expanding in the largest healthcare ecosystem in Asia. Also, Mitsui has a previous working relationship with Khazanah Nasional Berhad and announced the acquisition of a 16% stake in IHH from Khazanah Nasional Berhad in November 2018. Overall, at the last close price, the downside risk is low (trading close to break price) with a good probability of upside (announcement of a formal proposal). </div>

On 6 May 2021, Bloomberg reported that Mitsui &amp; Co Ltd (8031 JP), the largest shareholder with a 32.90% stake, is currently exploring a proposal to privatise IHH Healthcare (IHH MK). Mitsui is aiming to partner with private equity firms and has reached out to Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the second-largest shareholder with a 26.02% stake, to acquire its stake, according to Bloomberg. Mitsui and IHH have not formally commented on the report. On the back of the report, the shares have risen 8.8% from the unaffected price of RM5.20 (5 May) to the last close price of RM5.66. IHH is listed on the Main Markets of Bursa Malaysia and the Singapore Stock Exchange. In Malaysia, the threshold for triggering a mandatory general offer (MGO) is the offeror and concert parties owning 33% or more of the voting shares. Mitsui sits just below the threshold and the acquisition of further shares from Khazanah Nasional Berhad would trigger an MGO. We think that report has some credibility due to Mitsui’s view that IHH is a core asset to fulfil its ambition of expanding in the largest healthcare ecosystem in Asia. Also, Mitsui has a previous working relationship with Khazanah Nasional Berhad and announced the acquisition of a 16% stake in IHH from Khazanah Nasional Berhad in November 2018. Overall, at the last close price, the downside risk is low (trading close to break price) with a good probability of upside (announcement of a formal proposal). 

IHH Healthcare’s Possible Privatisation by Mitsui

Japan

MITSUI & CO., LTD. is a general trading company.  The Company has operating groups including Iron and Steel, Non-Ferrous Metals, Machinery, Chemicals, Foods, Energy, Textiles, and General Merchandise.  Mitsui also operates real estate and overseas development projects.

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Mitsui & Co Ltd (8031 JP)

PHC Holdings IPO Initiation: Sugar High

PHC plans to raise JPY172 billion ($1.57 billion) at an indicative price of JPY3,700 per share. We think that PHC’s fundamentals are mixed and we...

Arun George

PHC Holdings Pre-IPO - Many Companies Rolled into One

PHC Holdings and its shareholders aim to raise around US$1.8bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Japan IPO.

Sumeet Singh

Honshu Chemical Shareholders Get the Short End of the Stick As The Board Is Ex-Gourd

Honshu Chem OP and NP were up 38% and 53% for the year vs mgmt forecast just 6mos ago. What was super cheap is even cheaper. The Board didn't see...

Travis Lundy

Honshu Chemical (4115) Shareholders Perhaps One Day From a Wrong Price Takeover

Smallcap monomer maker Honshu Chemical is a TOB target. The parents decided in November to take out minorities. At the WRONG price. Directors...

Travis Lundy

IHH Healthcare’s Possible Privatisation by Mitsui

Mitsui, the largest shareholder, is currently exploring a proposal to privatise IHH. Overall, at the last close price, the downside risk is low...

Arun George

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