Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/melco-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6597:1" rel="noopener">Melco Holdings (6676 JP)</a> chairman Hiroyuki MAKI bought up a 14% stake in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/base-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28353:1" rel="noopener">BASE Inc (4477 JP)</a> in just under two weeks. It was done quite transparently. He announced daily.</li>
<li>He wants to get to 30% in a Tender Offer. The method, approach, lack of transparency, and similarity to previous situations where he invested has the company wary. </li>
<li>This looks like a Poison Pill case in the offing. It WAS a cheap stock. It is not expensive now. But it is not clear what the endgame is here.</li>
</ul>



Melco Holdings (6676 JP) chairman Hiroyuki MAKI bought up a 14% stake in BASE Inc (4477 JP) in just under two weeks. It was done quite transparently. He announced daily.
He wants to get to 30% in a Tender Offer. The method, approach, lack of transparency, and similarity to previous situations where he invested has the company wary. 
This looks like a Poison Pill case in the offing. It WAS a cheap stock. It is not expensive now. But it is not clear what the endgame is here.


Boss Maki Goes Hard on Base (4477) - Interesting Situation

Research from Asian Century Stocks, Asian Century Stocks

Michael Fritzell

Research from Asian Century Stocks

Providing financial journalism in the Asia-Pacific

Asian Century Stocks

Asian Century Stocks is a newsletter providing financial journalism for companies and stocks in the Asia-Pacific. 
The Asian Century Stocks logotype “百” stands for “one hundred” or a “century”. The economic centre of gravity is moving towards Asia. Yet most global investors are missing out.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>BASE Inc (4477 JP — US$234 million) is an e-commerce technology company based in Tokyo, Japan.</li><li>The software helps small merchants open stores online and manage their operations. BASE is often likened to “Shopify of Japan” due to similarities in their product offerings.</li><li>However, investors have become skeptical about BASE, with the stock now trading at just 0.8x EV/Sales — a massive discount to Shopify’s 13.3x.</li></ul>

BASE Inc (4477 JP — US$234 million) is an e-commerce technology company based in Tokyo, Japan.The software helps small merchants open stores online and manage their operations. BASE is often likened to “Shopify of Japan” due to similarities in their product offerings.However, investors have become skeptical about BASE, with the stock now trading at just 0.8x EV/Sales — a massive discount to Shopify’s 13.3x.

BASE Inc (4477 JP): “Shopify of Japan” at 0.8x EV/Sales

<ul>
<li>Hugely cash-rich <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cookpad-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:23:1" rel="noopener">Cookpad Inc (2193 JP)</a> wouldn't hit my radar except for two things. 1) it was the target of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/melco-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6597:1" rel="noopener">Melco Holdings (6676 JP)</a> chairman Maki-san a few years ago...</li>
<li>And 2) they did a huge buyback last year which pumped up the stock very bigly. </li>
<li>Maki-San appears long gone from the shares, but now they are doing another big buyback. Just as bigly. But there are new nuances this year.</li>
</ul>


Hugely cash-rich Cookpad Inc (2193 JP) wouldn't hit my radar except for two things. 1) it was the target of Melco Holdings (6676 JP) chairman Maki-san a few years ago...
And 2) they did a huge buyback last year which pumped up the stock very bigly. 
Maki-San appears long gone from the shares, but now they are doing another big buyback. Just as bigly. But there are new nuances this year.


Tinycap Cash-Rich Cookpad (2193) With HUGE Buyback. AGAIN

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

<ul>
<li>When just viewed as a shop building operator, Marui is a mid-sized property firm with a dependence on the Tokyo market. </li>
<li>Its consumer credit business has always been larger and transactions exceeded ¥3 trillion for the first time last year and should hit ¥5 trillion in  FY2025.</li>
<li>Marui also wants to leverage that data to better manage its buildings and identify fast growing businesses to invest in, resulting in more cross-use and growth businesses.</li>
</ul>


When just viewed as a shop building operator, Marui is a mid-sized property firm with a dependence on the Tokyo market. 
Its consumer credit business has always been larger and transactions exceeded ¥3 trillion for the first time last year and should hit ¥5 trillion in  FY2025.
Marui also wants to leverage that data to better manage its buildings and identify fast growing businesses to invest in, resulting in more cross-use and growth businesses.


Marui: Already a ¥3 Trillion Business but Aiming for ¥5 Trillion

David Blennerhassett

<ul>
<li>Buy <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hankyu-hanshin-reit-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12654:1" rel="noopener">Hankyu Hanshin REIT, Inc. (8977 JP)</a> on any weakness. There will be strength ahead.</li>
<li>With <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> suspended pursuant to the Takeovers Code, a third party Offer, as opposed to ENN Group, seems more likely. </li>
<li>Be long <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/idemitsu-kosan-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:109:1" rel="noopener">Idemitsu (5019 JP)</a> vs <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/eneos-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:638:1" rel="noopener">ENEOS</a> for the next several weeks. Light and easy drift trade based on pressure increasing and pressure ending before new news in May.</li>
</ul>


Buy Hankyu Hanshin REIT, Inc. (8977 JP) on any weakness. There will be strength ahead.
With ENN Energy (2688 HK) suspended pursuant to the Takeovers Code, a third party Offer, as opposed to ENN Group, seems more likely. 
Be long Idemitsu (5019 JP) vs ENEOS for the next several weeks. Light and easy drift trade based on pressure increasing and pressure ending before new news in May.


Last Week in Event SPACE: Hankyu Hanshin REIT, ENN Energy, Idemitsu, HKBN, Jardine Matheson

Japan

BASE, Inc. offers internet based services. The Company provides net shop creation, shopping application development, online payment development, and other services. BASE provides its services throughout Japan.

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BASE Inc (4477 JP)

Boss Maki Goes Hard on Base (4477) - Interesting Situation

Melco Holdings chair has bought 14.3% of Base, Inc on margin for his personal account. He has done similar things a few times in the past. Base may...

Travis Lundy

BASE Inc (4477 JP): “Shopify of Japan” at 0.8x EV/Sales

BASE Inc (4477 JP — US$234 million) is an e-commerce technology company based in Tokyo, Japan. The software helps small merchants open stores...

Asian Century Stocks

Tinycap Cash-Rich Cookpad (2193) With HUGE Buyback. AGAIN

Tinycap Cookpad is doing another large buyback. It's big. Last year's bought 10% in a month. This year, float is that much smaller. And there are...

Travis Lundy

Marui: Already a ¥3 Trillion Business but Aiming for ¥5 Trillion

Marui is one of the few really solid bets in Japanese consumer/retail thanks to its mix of a leading consumer finance business and fast evolving...

Michael Causton

Last Week in Event SPACE: Hankyu Hanshin REIT, ENN Energy, Idemitsu, HKBN, Jardine Matheson

It’s Sunday! Pour yourself a coffee, grab a comfortable seat, and sift through a brief summary of insights on various events discussed during the...

David Blennerhassett

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