Overseas Chinese Equities, Aequitas Research

Ming Lu

Overseas Chinese Equities

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.

Equity Bottom-Up

Alibaba Group Holding  / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>We believe the new law will slow down the expansion of the lending business related to e-commerce companies.</li>
<li>iQiyi (IQ) announced it would raise the membership fees.</li>
<li>Tencent Music (TME) signed a contract for exclusively using Peer Music’s copyrights in China.</li>
</ul>


We believe the new law will slow down the expansion of the lending business related to e-commerce companies.
iQiyi (IQ) announced it would raise the membership fees.
Tencent Music (TME) signed a contract for exclusively using Peer Music’s copyrights in China.


China Internet Weekly (9Nov2020): New Law on Online Small Amount Lending

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Event-Driven

On Friday evening, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-exchanges-clearing" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:490:1" rel="noopener">HKEX (388 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.hkex.com.hk/News/Regulatory-Announcements/2020/201030news?sc_lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> the conclusions to its consultation on the Corporate WVR beneficiaries.The SEHK will treat Greater China issuers that are controlled by corporate Weighted Voting Rights (WVRR) beneficiaries and have a primary listing on a Qualifying Exchange in the same manner as current grandfathered Greater China issuers. The cut-off date for the grandfathered issues is 30 October 2020.Qualifying corporate WVR issuers will need to meet the following requirements:<ul>
<li>a minimum market cap threshold of at least HK$40bn, or a market cap of at least HK$10bn and revenue of at least HK$1bn in its most recent audited financial year.</li>
<li>be an 'innovative company' as part of the suitability for listing</li>
<li>demonstrate that the laws, rules and regulations provide certain shareholder protection standards</li>
</ul>The secondary listing applicant would also need to demonstrate that it is controlled by a single corporate WVR beneficiary, or a group of corporate beneficiaries acting in concert, controlling at least 30% of the total shareholder votes.This paves the way for <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-music-entertainment" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27255:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Music (TME US)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/iqiyi-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26755:1" rel="noopener">iQIYI Inc (IQ US)</a>, among others, to pursue a secondary listing on the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-exchanges-clearing" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:490:1" rel="noopener">HKEX (388 HK)</a>.

On Friday evening, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of HKEX (388 HK), published the conclusions to its consultation on the Corporate WVR beneficiaries.The SEHK will treat Greater China issuers that are controlled by corporate Weighted Voting Rights (WVRR) beneficiaries and have a primary listing on a Qualifying Exchange in the same manner as current grandfathered Greater China issuers. The cut-off date for the grandfathered issues is 30 October 2020.Qualifying corporate WVR issuers will need to meet the following requirements:
a minimum market cap threshold of at least HK$40bn, or a market cap of at least HK$10bn and revenue of at least HK$1bn in its most recent audited financial year.
be an 'innovative company' as part of the suitability for listing
demonstrate that the laws, rules and regulations provide certain shareholder protection standards
The secondary listing applicant would also need to demonstrate that it is controlled by a single corporate WVR beneficiary, or a group of corporate beneficiaries acting in concert, controlling at least 30% of the total shareholder votes.This paves the way for Tencent Music (TME US) and iQIYI Inc (IQ US), among others, to pursue a secondary listing on the HKEX (388 HK). 

Conclusions of the Corporate WVR Consultation: Small Changes for Now

<ul class="">
<li>Tourist number in National Day holidays recovered to 80% of last year.</li>
<li>Food delivery orders increased significantly in scenic spots during National Day holidays.</li>
<li>Pinduoduo (PDD) is not in the list of e-commerce law drafters.</li>
<li>Chinese game developers earned 29% of global game revenue on App Store and Google Player.</li>
<li>iQiyi (IQ) denied a short-seller accusation.</li>
</ul>


Tourist number in National Day holidays recovered to 80% of last year.
Food delivery orders increased significantly in scenic spots during National Day holidays.
Pinduoduo (PDD) is not in the list of e-commerce law drafters.
Chinese game developers earned 29% of global game revenue on App Store and Google Player.
iQiyi (IQ) denied a short-seller accusation.


China Internet Weekly (12Oct2020): Tourist Number Recovered to 80% of Last National Day Holidays

<ul>
<li>Baidu (BIDU)’s manager was arrested for gambling advertisements.</li>
<li>iQiyi (IQ) was banned in Taiwan.</li>
<li>Trip.com (TCOM)’s revenue continued to decrease QoQ in 2Q20.</li>
<li>China Literature (772 HK) raised novel writers’ revenue share from 50% to 70%.</li>
</ul>


Baidu (BIDU)’s manager was arrested for gambling advertisements.
iQiyi (IQ) was banned in Taiwan.
Trip.com (TCOM)’s revenue continued to decrease QoQ in 2Q20.
China Literature (772 HK) raised novel writers’ revenue share from 50% to 70%.


China Internet Weekly (28Sep2020): BIDU Manager Arrested, TCOM Revenue Shrank QoQ

Global Emerging Market Equities, Propitious Research

Wium Malan, CFA

Global Emerging Market Equities

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baidu-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:179:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (BIDU US)</a>, and the rest of the Chinese Online Search industry, has consistently been losing market share to the likes of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28434:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (9988 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bytedance-technology" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27936:1" rel="noopener">ByteDance (1460967D CH)</a>, <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>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/pinduoduo-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27250:1" rel="noopener">Pinduoduo (PDD US)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan-dianping" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan Dianping (3690 HK)</a> over the past two years. Although I still believe there is significant long term growth left for the Chinese digital advertising market, it can easily be argued that this growth will be heavily skewed and that the “pure” Search market is in effect an “industry in decline”. 
In his book “Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors”, Michael Porter expands on four key strategies which firms could successfully follow when they find themselves in a declining industry. In this insight, I analyse Baidu’s current strategy against these offered strategies to assess if there is indeed value left in the company (or at least the core search business). 
Baidu should be able to continue to produce significant cash flow from its core search business as long as it sticks to the “leadership” strategy – given their dominant share of search queries, the low penetration they have in the SME market, the suitability to Search advertising for certain industry verticals and their superior profitability. I estimate Baidu’s fair value at US$168/ADS based on a SOTP valuation. The values used in my SOTP for <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/iqiyi-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26755:1" rel="noopener">iQIYI Inc (IQ US)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/trip-com-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:180:1" rel="noopener">Trip.com (TCOM US)</a> (market value), Net Cash and Other investments (book value) would imply that Baidu’s core operations are currently valued at only $10.4bn ex-cash, which equates to only 9.1x 2021F PE (only 3.9x PE ex-cash).

Baidu (BIDU US), and the rest of the Chinese Online Search industry, has consistently been losing market share to the likes of Alibaba Group (9988 HK), ByteDance (1460967D CH), Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Pinduoduo (PDD US) and Meituan Dianping (3690 HK) over the past two years. Although I still believe there is significant long term growth left for the Chinese digital advertising market, it can easily be argued that this growth will be heavily skewed and that the “pure” Search market is in effect an “industry in decline”. 
In his book “Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors”, Michael Porter expands on four key strategies which firms could successfully follow when they find themselves in a declining industry. In this insight, I analyse Baidu’s current strategy against these offered strategies to assess if there is indeed value left in the company (or at least the core search business). 
Baidu should be able to continue to produce significant cash flow from its core search business as long as it sticks to the “leadership” strategy – given their dominant share of search queries, the low penetration they have in the SME market, the suitability to Search advertising for certain industry verticals and their superior profitability. I estimate Baidu’s fair value at US$168/ADS based on a SOTP valuation. The values used in my SOTP for iQIYI Inc (IQ US), Trip.com (TCOM US) (market value), Net Cash and Other investments (book value) would imply that Baidu’s core operations are currently valued at only $10.4bn ex-cash, which equates to only 9.1x 2021F PE (only 3.9x PE ex-cash).

Baidu: Strategies for Operating in an Industry in Decline

China

iQIYI, Inc. offers video entertainment services. The Company provides movies, television dramas, variety shows, and other video contents. iQIYI offers services worldwide.

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iQIYI Inc (IQ US)

China Internet Weekly (9Nov2020): New Law on Online Small Amount Lending

We believe the new law will slow down the expansion of online lending. iQiyi raised the membership fees. Tencent Music signed an exclusive contract...

Ming Lu

Conclusions of the Corporate WVR Consultation: Small Changes for Now

The HKEX has published the conclusions of the consultation on corporate WVR beneficiaries. There are no major changes, but the proposed changes...

Brian Freitas

China Internet Weekly (12Oct2020): Tourist Number Recovered to 80% of Last National Day Holidays

China's National Day tourists reflect how much the economy recovered. The holidays were from October 1 to 8. We believe people were willing to...

Ming Lu

China Internet Weekly (28Sep2020): BIDU Manager Arrested, TCOM Revenue Shrank QoQ

Baidu (BIDU)’s manager was arrested for gambling advertisements. iQiyi (IQ) was banned in Taiwan. Trip.com (TCOM)’s revenue continued to decrease...

Ming Lu

Baidu: Strategies for Operating in an Industry in Decline

Baidu, and the rest of the Chinese Online Search industry, has consistently been losing market share to the likes of Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent,...

Wium Malan, CFA

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