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.

Equity Capital Markets

Simplex Holdings / Equity Capital Markets

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked among the top companies in IDC Fintech rankings over the past nine years.Simplex provides consulting, system development, maintenance and operations to banks, asset managers and insurance companies in Asia. Simplex was established in Sep 97. It was listed on JASDAQ in Feb 2002 and progressed to the First Section in Sep 2005. The company undertook an MBO, in Apr 2013 and was delisted in Oct 2013.Since delisting, Simplex has expanded its product offering further to cover life insurance and non-life insurance companies as well, along with crypto exchanges. It has been reporting steady revenue growth over the past few years, although its margins have been volatile. Its performance prior to delisting wasn’t great, as it missed its medium term targets, and it now appears to be at peak margins.We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/simplex-holdings-pre-ipo-steady-topline-growth-but-appears-to-be-at-peak-margins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Steady topline growth but appears to be at peak margins</a>.In this note we will undertake a peer comparison and talk about valuations.

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked among the top companies in IDC Fintech rankings over the past nine years.Simplex provides consulting, system development, maintenance and operations to banks, asset managers and insurance companies in Asia. Simplex was established in Sep 97. It was listed on JASDAQ in Feb 2002 and progressed to the First Section in Sep 2005. The company undertook an MBO, in Apr 2013 and was delisted in Oct 2013.Since delisting, Simplex has expanded its product offering further to cover life insurance and non-life insurance companies as well, along with crypto exchanges. It has been reporting steady revenue growth over the past few years, although its margins have been volatile. Its performance prior to delisting wasn’t great, as it missed its medium term targets, and it now appears to be at peak margins.We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier note, Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Steady topline growth but appears to be at peak margins.In this note we will undertake a peer comparison and talk about valuations.

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Peer Comp, Valuation - Lagging in Size but Leading in Growth and Margins

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Equity Bottom-Up

Nomura Research Institute / Equity Bottom-Up

On 21 June 2021, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nomura-research-institute-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18129:1" rel="noopener">Nomura Research Institute Ltd (4307 JP)</a> announced (<a href="https://ir.nri.com/jp/ir/news/auto_20210621452515/pdfFile.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link</a>) a buyback program of up to 20,000,000 shares (3.30% of shares out) spending up to ¥60 billion, with the program running from 22 June 2021 to 30 December 2021, with possible buying on market and on ToSTNeT-3, but excluding dates in the 10 days around the day after the quarterly results announcements. The company ALSO announced a ToSTNeT-3 buyback tomorrow morning for up to 16,925,200 shares at today's closing price of ¥3,545/share. That 16.925mm shares at that price = ¥59,999,834,000 so one can assume that if the ToSTNeT-3 buyback is completed to the full extent, that will mean the buyback program will be done tomorrow before the market opens.The announcement suggested that <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nomura-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:742:1" rel="noopener">Nomura Holdings (8604 JP)</a> intended to sell as many as 14.105 million shares in the buyback leaving 2.815mm shares for other holders if they want to sell Monday's close. But I remind readers that a) short selling is allowed, and b) it is entirely pro rata (with some niggling little procedural exceptions) so if people stepped in to sell, they would probably get a decent portion of their offer sold at that price. More below the fold.

On 21 June 2021, Nomura Research Institute Ltd (4307 JP) announced (link) a buyback program of up to 20,000,000 shares (3.30% of shares out) spending up to ¥60 billion, with the program running from 22 June 2021 to 30 December 2021, with possible buying on market and on ToSTNeT-3, but excluding dates in the 10 days around the day after the quarterly results announcements. The company ALSO announced a ToSTNeT-3 buyback tomorrow morning for up to 16,925,200 shares at today's closing price of ¥3,545/share. That 16.925mm shares at that price = ¥59,999,834,000 so one can assume that if the ToSTNeT-3 buyback is completed to the full extent, that will mean the buyback program will be done tomorrow before the market opens.The announcement suggested that Nomura Holdings (8604 JP) intended to sell as many as 14.105 million shares in the buyback leaving 2.815mm shares for other holders if they want to sell Monday's close. But I remind readers that a) short selling is allowed, and b) it is entirely pro rata (with some niggling little procedural exceptions) so if people stepped in to sell, they would probably get a decent portion of their offer sold at that price. More below the fold. 

Nomura Research Institute ToSTNeT-3 Buyback

Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

More and more, companies are using cryptocurrency (especially Bitcoin) as part of their corporate treasury management strategies, discussed in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bitcoin-on-balance-sheets-indirect-crypto-exposure-considerations-for-crypto-leery-esg-investors" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:52207" rel="noopener">Bitcoin on Balance Sheets: Indirect Crypto Exposure Considerations for Crypto-Leery ESG Investors</a>. That trend is behind the topic of this report.Greater mainstream corporate and institutional use of Bitcoin is driving the growth in demand for cryptocurrency custody services, and banks around the world are rushing to fill that demand. It is a logical and relatively safe foray into the cryptocurrency space, albeit not without some risk.For ESG investors wishing to avoid direct or indirect cryptocurrency exposure, perhaps due to their views on crypto's wretched Environmental footprint, the banks herein will have significant indirect crypto exposure. However, I personally find it hard to be categorically bearish on this theme.Whilst the theme in the first Insight (holding Bitcoin on balance sheets) represents real risk, this is different. It could be argued that crypto custody perpetuates <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bitcoin-usd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25895:1" rel="noopener">Bitcoin (XBT)</a>'s climate impacts, thus is a bad thing. Perhaps, from a purely idealistic ESG viewpoint, that is partially true.However, the connection from custody service to carbon emissions is so far removed, and the risks associated with entering the crypto custody space are so comparatively minimal, that the opinion on this theme should be "neutral" at worst, and definitely not across-the-board "negative."But really, that is for each investor to decide, because the crypto/ESG issue is highly subjective.

More and more, companies are using cryptocurrency (especially Bitcoin) as part of their corporate treasury management strategies, discussed in Bitcoin on Balance Sheets: Indirect Crypto Exposure Considerations for Crypto-Leery ESG Investors. That trend is behind the topic of this report.Greater mainstream corporate and institutional use of Bitcoin is driving the growth in demand for cryptocurrency custody services, and banks around the world are rushing to fill that demand. It is a logical and relatively safe foray into the cryptocurrency space, albeit not without some risk.For ESG investors wishing to avoid direct or indirect cryptocurrency exposure, perhaps due to their views on crypto's wretched Environmental footprint, the banks herein will have significant indirect crypto exposure. However, I personally find it hard to be categorically bearish on this theme.Whilst the theme in the first Insight (holding Bitcoin on balance sheets) represents real risk, this is different. It could be argued that crypto custody perpetuates Bitcoin (XBT)'s climate impacts, thus is a bad thing. Perhaps, from a purely idealistic ESG viewpoint, that is partially true.However, the connection from custody service to carbon emissions is so far removed, and the risks associated with entering the crypto custody space are so comparatively minimal, that the opinion on this theme should be "neutral" at worst, and definitely not across-the-board "negative."But really, that is for each investor to decide, because the crypto/ESG issue is highly subjective.

Banks on the Bitcoin Bandwagon: Cashing in Through Crypto Custody Services

Renesas Electronics / Equity Capital Markets

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares.The current deal would be of somewhat similar size as two of the past deals that we have covered for Renesas:<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">US$2.8bn bn in 2017 <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/renesas-electronics-placement-additional-thoughts-on-valuation-flotation-and-ownership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renesas Electronics Placement: Additional Thoughts on Valuation, Flotation, and Ownership</a></li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">US$2.4bn in 2018 <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/renesas-placement-tighter-effective-discount-and-placement-overhangs-but-statistic-supports-a-bid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renesas Placement: Tighter Effective Discount and Placement Overhangs but Statistic Supports a Bid</a></li>
</ul>In this insight, we'll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about deal dynamics.

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares.The current deal would be of somewhat similar size as two of the past deals that we have covered for Renesas:
US$2.8bn bn in 2017 Renesas Electronics Placement: Additional Thoughts on Valuation, Flotation, and Ownership
US$2.4bn in 2018 Renesas Placement: Tighter Effective Discount and Placement Overhangs but Statistic Supports a Bid
In this insight, we'll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about deal dynamics.

Renesas Placement - Very Well Flagged, past Deals Have Done Well but Large Size Warrants Correction

Fintech & EM-focused Analyst, KT Capital Group

Alec Tseung

Fintech & EM-focused Analyst

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

This Original aims to identify the key investment opportunities among the listed brokers in the three major East Asian countries - China, Japan, and Korea. By looking at the development of the brokerage sectors in these three countries, we observe a general trend where upstart online brokers first compete against the more established brokers based on their cost and technological advantages. This then pushes the more established brokers to either focus on more lucrative wholesale businesses or adopt and invest in tech initiatives in order to stay competitive in the retail market.After further establishing themselves in the retail market, these upstart online brokers then also diversify and expand into the more lucrative wealth/asset management or even wholesale businesses.  By gauging at which phase the broker is in this cycle, investors can have a good understanding of its future outlook.In our opinion, Korean brokers currently offer the best value, while the Chinese pure-play online brokers offer the highest growth potential. As such, our pecking order, in terms of investment attractiveness, is <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kiwoom-securities-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20418:1" rel="noopener">Kiwoom Securities (039490 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/east-money-information-co-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8075:1" rel="noopener">East Money Information Co A (300059 CH)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/futu-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27858:1" rel="noopener">Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU US)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/monex-group-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14211:1" rel="noopener">Monex Group Inc (8698 JP)</a> / <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/huatai-securities-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:449:1" rel="noopener">Huatai Securities Co Ltd (H) (6886 HK)</a>.  <h2>What is Original?</h2>In this Original, we look into the competitive landscape of the brokerage sectors in China, Japan, and Korea. 55 listed brokers from these three countries are included in this Original as the company universe for regression analysis. Among them, a total of 8 brokers are chosen, with their company profiles separately presented, to further showcase and contrast the impact of competition and technological disruption. Based on this, a pecking order is then developed, both on a country and a company basis.

This Original aims to identify the key investment opportunities among the listed brokers in the three major East Asian countries - China, Japan, and Korea. By looking at the development of the brokerage sectors in these three countries, we observe a general trend where upstart online brokers first compete against the more established brokers based on their cost and technological advantages. This then pushes the more established brokers to either focus on more lucrative wholesale businesses or adopt and invest in tech initiatives in order to stay competitive in the retail market.After further establishing themselves in the retail market, these upstart online brokers then also diversify and expand into the more lucrative wealth/asset management or even wholesale businesses.  By gauging at which phase the broker is in this cycle, investors can have a good understanding of its future outlook.In our opinion, Korean brokers currently offer the best value, while the Chinese pure-play online brokers offer the highest growth potential. As such, our pecking order, in terms of investment attractiveness, is Kiwoom Securities (039490 KS), East Money Information Co A (300059 CH), Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU US), Monex Group Inc (8698 JP) / Huatai Securities Co Ltd (H) (6886 HK).  What is Original?In this Original, we look into the competitive landscape of the brokerage sectors in China, Japan, and Korea. 55 listed brokers from these three countries are included in this Original as the company universe for regression analysis. Among them, a total of 8 brokers are chosen, with their company profiles separately presented, to further showcase and contrast the impact of competition and technological disruption. Based on this, a pecking order is then developed, both on a country and a company basis.

Asian Brokers: A Competition Between Value and Growth

Japan

Nomura Holdings, Inc. is a holding company which manages financial operations for its subsidiaries.  As a group, the Company provides a variety of financial services such as dealing, brokerage, underwriting, and asset management. Nomura Securities Co., a registered member of the New York and London Stock Exchanges, has branches around the world.

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Nomura Holdings (8604 JP)

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Peer Comp, Valuation - Lagging in Size but Leading in Growth and Margins

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked...

Sumeet Singh

Nomura Research Institute ToSTNeT-3 Buyback

NRI is one of the higher-multiple (forward consensus EV/EBIT or EV/EBITDA) Japanese IT service companies. There is a PRE-OPEN ToSTNeT-3 buyback...

Travis Lundy

Banks on the Bitcoin Bandwagon: Cashing in Through Crypto Custody Services

Bitcoin holdings by issuers and investors is driving crypto custody demand. Big banks are stepping. A big opportunity, but some ESG investors might...

Kyle Rudden

Renesas Placement - Very Well Flagged, past Deals Have Done Well but Large Size Warrants Correction

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares. The current deal would be of somewhat...

Sumeet Singh

Asian Brokers: A Competition Between Value and Growth

The Original looks into the current competitive landscape of the brokerage sectors in China, Japan, and Korea, with a view to developing a list of...

Alec Tseung

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Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Peer Comp, Valuation - Lagging in Size but Leading in Growth and Margins

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked...

Sumeet Singh

Nomura Research Institute ToSTNeT-3 Buyback

NRI is one of the higher-multiple (forward consensus EV/EBIT or EV/EBITDA) Japanese IT service companies. There is a *PRE-OPEN* ToSTNeT-3 buyback...

Travis Lundy

Banks on the Bitcoin Bandwagon: Cashing in Through Crypto Custody Services

Bitcoin holdings by issuers and investors is driving crypto custody demand. Big banks are stepping. A big opportunity, but some ESG investors might...

Kyle Rudden

Renesas Placement - Very Well Flagged, past Deals Have Done Well but Large Size Warrants Correction

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares. The current deal would be of somewhat...

Sumeet Singh

Asian Brokers: A Competition Between Value and Growth

The Original looks into the current competitive landscape of the brokerage sectors in China, Japan, and Korea, with a view to developing a list of...

Alec Tseung

NRI is one of the higher-multiple (forward consensus EV/EBIT or EV/EBITDA) Japanese IT service companies. There is a PRE-OPEN ToSTNeT-3 buyback...