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

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/linklogis" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31126:1" rel="noopener">Linklogis (LINK HK)</a> is a leading technology solution provider for supply chain finance in China. Its solutions optimise the payment cycle of supply chain transactions and digitalize the entire workflow of supply chain finance. Linklogis was the leading technology solution providers in China with a 20.5% market share of supply chain finance transactions processed in 9M20, according to CIC. Linklogis is backed by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a>, CITIC Capital, GIC and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/standard-chartered-plc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:193:1" rel="noopener">Standard Chartered (STAN LN)</a>. Linklogis has filed for a Hong Kong IPO to raise as much as $500 million, according to press reports.</p><p>Linklogis is a play on China’s supply chain finance market. SMEs in China had an average of 92 days of accounts receivable outstanding in 2019, higher than 51 days on average in the US. It could also take up to 6 to 12 months for SMEs to receive final payments. The Chinese government has introduced a series of supportive policies to direct funding towards small businesses, including imposing SME lending growth targets for banks. Supply chain finance has proven to be a useful way to bridge the financing gap of SMEs, as it allows SMEs to get quick access to payment and funding at low costs. In 9M20, Linklogis’ customers helped their SME suppliers obtain low-cost financing at an average financing cost of 5.4%, significantly lower than the cost of financing extended to SMEs relying on their own creditworthiness that ranges from 10% to 20%, according to CIC.</p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Linklogis is an attractive play on these market dynamics by combining an attractive monetisation model, high customer retention rate (strong revenue visibility) and good operating leverage.</p></div>

Linklogis (LINK HK) is a leading technology solution provider for supply chain finance in China. Its solutions optimise the payment cycle of supply chain transactions and digitalize the entire workflow of supply chain finance. Linklogis was the leading technology solution providers in China with a 20.5% market share of supply chain finance transactions processed in 9M20, according to CIC. Linklogis is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), CITIC Capital, GIC and Standard Chartered (STAN LN). Linklogis has filed for a Hong Kong IPO to raise as much as $500 million, according to press reports.Linklogis is a play on China’s supply chain finance market. SMEs in China had an average of 92 days of accounts receivable outstanding in 2019, higher than 51 days on average in the US. It could also take up to 6 to 12 months for SMEs to receive final payments. The Chinese government has introduced a series of supportive policies to direct funding towards small businesses, including imposing SME lending growth targets for banks. Supply chain finance has proven to be a useful way to bridge the financing gap of SMEs, as it allows SMEs to get quick access to payment and funding at low costs. In 9M20, Linklogis’ customers helped their SME suppliers obtain low-cost financing at an average financing cost of 5.4%, significantly lower than the cost of financing extended to SMEs relying on their own creditworthiness that ranges from 10% to 20%, according to CIC.Linklogis is an attractive play on these market dynamics by combining an attractive monetisation model, high customer retention rate (strong revenue visibility) and good operating leverage.

Financials & FinTech research, Galliano’s Financials Research

Victor Galliano

Financials & FinTech research

Financials & FinTech, EM & Developed Markets

Galliano’s Financials Research

Galliano's Financials Research provides fundamental research in Emerging Markets financials, including FinTech, as well as financials in select Developed Markets.

The investment style applied is generally value oriented, although Growth At Reasonable Price (GARP) strategies can also be used where appropriate. 

Our investment research approach aim is often contrarian, looking to capitalise on overly sceptical or optimistic consensus views. In terms of valuation techniques, the focus is on PBV ratio to ROE, PE multiples and dividend yield, as well as the application of PEG ratios and, where appropriate, Sum of the Parts (SOTP) valuations.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Regulatory pressure is driving Ant Group to place its financial operations into a holding company which would be subject to bank-like regulation, as Chinese regulators seek increasing oversight of the fast growth in consumer and SMB debt</li>
<li>Furthermore, and more importantly, press reports indicate that regulators are pushing for Chinese FinTech giants to share their consumer credit data with state entities, to enhance the centralized “big data” repository at the PBoC</li>
<li>The planned launch of the PBoC’s digital currency - the e-yuan – is intended to try to level the playing field between electronic payments leaders Alipay (Ant) and WeChat pay (Tencent) and the bank system, as well as giving the state a powerful tool for digital financial surveillance</li>
<li>For Ant, more bank-like regulation of credit would imply higher capital requirement for its credit operations as well as slower loan growth, with the sharing of Ant Group’s many terabytes of data with the authorities also potentially detracting from Ant Group’s “big data” edge and, by extension, valuation</li>
<li>We take a preliminary stab at a revised SOTP valuation range – despite the lack of clear regulatory parameters so far – of USD130-160bn for Ant Group, a far cry from the market’s estimated USD250bn+ valuation in 4Q20</li>
<li>We see further upside potential in the near term for Chinese SOE banks, as regulators begin to level the regulatory playing filed with FinTech; it is also time, in our view, to look again at <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group-holding-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:787:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (BABA US)</a>, 33% shareholder in Ant Group</li>
<li>Risks to our negative view on Ant Group include a less aggressive implementation of regulatory rules on Chinese FinTech, and only limited disclosure on its “big data” lake</li>
</ul>


Regulatory pressure is driving Ant Group to place its financial operations into a holding company which would be subject to bank-like regulation, as Chinese regulators seek increasing oversight of the fast growth in consumer and SMB debt
Furthermore, and more importantly, press reports indicate that regulators are pushing for Chinese FinTech giants to share their consumer credit data with state entities, to enhance the centralized “big data” repository at the PBoC
The planned launch of the PBoC’s digital currency - the e-yuan – is intended to try to level the playing field between electronic payments leaders Alipay (Ant) and WeChat pay (Tencent) and the bank system, as well as giving the state a powerful tool for digital financial surveillance
For Ant, more bank-like regulation of credit would imply higher capital requirement for its credit operations as well as slower loan growth, with the sharing of Ant Group’s many terabytes of data with the authorities also potentially detracting from Ant Group’s “big data” edge and, by extension, valuation
We take a preliminary stab at a revised SOTP valuation range – despite the lack of clear regulatory parameters so far – of USD130-160bn for Ant Group, a far cry from the market’s estimated USD250bn+ valuation in 4Q20
We see further upside potential in the near term for Chinese SOE banks, as regulators begin to level the regulatory playing filed with FinTech; it is also time, in our view, to look again at Alibaba Group (BABA US), 33% shareholder in Ant Group
Risks to our negative view on Ant Group include a less aggressive implementation of regulatory rules on Chinese FinTech, and only limited disclosure on its “big data” lake


Ant Group: Regulatory Pressures Drive the State’s “big Data” Grab, and a Revised SOTP Valuation

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.

Kuaishou Technology / Equity Capital Markets

<p>Kuaishou Technology (KT) is a content community and social platform that is looking to raise around US$5bn in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by Tencent, Sequoia China, Baidu, DST Global, Boyu Capital, Temasek and others.</p><p>As of six months ended Jun 2020, it had 302m daily active users (DAUs), who spent 85 mins on average on the app every day. It also had 776m monthly active users (MAUs) and total e-commerce GMV of RMB109.6bn. On an average 1.1bn short videos were uploaded on its app during 1H20.</p><p>As per iResearch, Kuaishou was globally the largest live streaming platform by gross billings from virtual gifting and average live streaming MPUs, the second largest short video platform by average DAUs, and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by GMV, over six months ended June 30, 2020.</p><p>I have covered various aspects of the company’s performance in my previous notes: </p><ul>
<li> <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/kuaishou-technology-pre-ipo-the-positives-hot-segment-fast-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, fast growth</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/kuaishou-technology-pre-ipo-the-negatives-ample-doubts-remain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Ample Doubts Remain</a></li>
</ul><p>In this note, I’ll undertake a peer comparison, provide earnings forecasts and talk about valuations. </p>

Kuaishou Technology (KT) is a content community and social platform that is looking to raise around US$5bn in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by Tencent, Sequoia China, Baidu, DST Global, Boyu Capital, Temasek and others.As of six months ended Jun 2020, it had 302m daily active users (DAUs), who spent 85 mins on average on the app every day. It also had 776m monthly active users (MAUs) and total e-commerce GMV of RMB109.6bn. On an average 1.1bn short videos were uploaded on its app during 1H20.As per iResearch, Kuaishou was globally the largest live streaming platform by gross billings from virtual gifting and average live streaming MPUs, the second largest short video platform by average DAUs, and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by GMV, over six months ended June 30, 2020.I have covered various aspects of the company’s performance in my previous notes: 
 Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, fast growth

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Ample Doubts Remain
In this note, I’ll undertake a peer comparison, provide earnings forecasts and talk about valuations. 

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - Peer Comparison and Thoughts on Valuation

Overseas Chinese Equities, Aequitas Research

Ming Lu

Overseas Chinese Equities

<ul>
<li>Pinduoduo (PDD)’s employee died a sudden death on the way home at a frozen deep night.</li>
<li>Donald Trump banned transactions with 8 Chinese apps.</li>
<li>Chinese developers’ global income increased by 45% yoy, higher than 28% yoy of the global market size.</li>
</ul>


Pinduoduo (PDD)’s employee died a sudden death on the way home at a frozen deep night.
Donald Trump banned transactions with 8 Chinese apps.
Chinese developers’ global income increased by 45% yoy, higher than 28% yoy of the global market size.


China Internet Weekly (11Jan2021): PDD Employee Died at Frozen Deep Night, US Banned 8 Chinese Apps.

RLX Technology Inc / Equity Capital Markets

<div><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rlx-technology-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31113:1" rel="noopener">RLX Technology Inc (RLX US)</a> aims to raise around US$1bn in its US listing. RLX is the largest branded e-vapor company in China with a market share of closed-system e-vapor products in terms of retail sales value of 48% in 2019 and 62.6% over 9M20. </p></div><div><p>RLX only sells its e-vapor products in China. As of Sep 2020, it had over 5,000 branded partner stores and sold its products in over 100,000 other retail outlets, covering over 250 cities in China.</p></div><div>
<p>Even though the company only started operations in 2018, it was already recording sales of around US$330m by 9M20. Margins too have been on an uptrend and operating cash flows have been robust. Moreover, the founding team and investor backing appear strong.</p>
<p>However, sales have mostly grown owing to rapid expansion of its distribution network. Furthermore, the brand also appears to have overseas operations but there has been no mention of that in the company’s filings leaving one to wonder where these operations are housed and who exactly owns them.</p>
<p>In my earlier insight, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/rlx-technology-pre-ipo-the-positives-fast-growth-low-penetration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RLX Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Fast Growth, Low Penetration</a>, I spoke about the positive aspects of the company. In this insight, I'll highlight some of the not so flattering aspects. </p>
</div>

RLX Technology Inc (RLX US) aims to raise around US$1bn in its US listing. RLX is the largest branded e-vapor company in China with a market share of closed-system e-vapor products in terms of retail sales value of 48% in 2019 and 62.6% over 9M20. RLX only sells its e-vapor products in China. As of Sep 2020, it had over 5,000 branded partner stores and sold its products in over 100,000 other retail outlets, covering over 250 cities in China.
Even though the company only started operations in 2018, it was already recording sales of around US$330m by 9M20. Margins too have been on an uptrend and operating cash flows have been robust. Moreover, the founding team and investor backing appear strong.
However, sales have mostly grown owing to rapid expansion of its distribution network. Furthermore, the brand also appears to have overseas operations but there has been no mention of that in the company’s filings leaving one to wonder where these operations are housed and who exactly owns them.
In my earlier insight, RLX Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Fast Growth, Low Penetration, I spoke about the positive aspects of the company. In this insight, I'll highlight some of the not so flattering aspects. 


RLX Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Limited Track Record, and Missing International Ops

China

Tencent Holdings Limited operates as an investment holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides Internet and mobile value-added services (VAS), online advertising, and e-commerce transactions. Tencent Holdings offers services to users worldwide.

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Tencent (700 HK)

Linklogis IPO Initiation: ISupply

Linklogis is an attractive play on China’s supply chain finance market by combining an attractive monetisation model, high customer retention rate...

Arun George

Ant Group: Regulatory Pressures Drive the State’s “big Data” Grab, and a Revised SOTP Valuation

Ant Group is under great state focus and under pressure to share its many terabytes of "big data" with PBoC, hurting its SOTP valuation; yet,...

Victor Galliano

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - Peer Comparison and Thoughts on Valuation

Kuaishou is a content community and social platform that is looking to raise around US$5bn in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by Tencent,...

Sumeet Singh

China Internet Weekly (11Jan2021): PDD Employee Died at Frozen Deep Night, US Banned 8 Chinese Apps.

Pinduoduo (PDD)’s employee died a sudden death on the way home at a frozen deep night. Donald Trump banned 8 Chinese apps. Chinese developers’...

Ming Lu

RLX Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Limited Track Record, and Missing International Ops

RLX Technology (RLX US) aims to raise around US$1bn in its US listing. RLX is the largest branded e-vapor company in China with a market share of...

Sumeet Singh

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