Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

On 2 September at 7pm Australia time, the Marvelous Milton Merger Arb ratio was fixed, and just now it was <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20210903/pdf/4504qbggnhgyc0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a>. The ratio of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/milton-corp-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29090:1" rel="noopener">Milton Corp Ltd (MLT AU)</a> shares to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/washington-h-soul-pattinson-and-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6054:1" rel="noopener">Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (SOL AU)</a> shares has been decided at 0.1863. Entitlements will be rounded up or down to the nearest share.Those who have been following on my model would have the NAV at A$5.622 on 2 Sep at the close, or A$5.702/share including the A$0.08 of dividend which went ex- on August 31. That delivered me a number of 0.1864 but they started with A$5.70 rather than A$5.702.<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/227/647/original/Screenshot+2021-09-03+at+12.18.13+PM.png?1630642709" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="227647"></figure></section>As reported in the <a href="https://www.afr.com/street-talk/milton-corp-s-4b-takeover-finds-proxy-firm-support-20210901-p58ntx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AFR</a>, both major proxy services came out in favor of the deal saying advantages outweighed disadvantages, and noting the IE's "fair value" range said pricing was appropriate; in a good quote from the article, "there were no stones thrown", which usually results in an approval at the Scheme Meeting.The schedule reported in the filing is unchanged from the schedule in the Scheme Booklet.<div>
Today's announcement means the merger trade is "fixed" rather than floating and now the remaining "risks" are...
<ul>
<li>a small and eminently arb-able risk arb spread (which is 3.56% less comms and borrow fees as I type (excluding any franking credit benefit)</li>
<li>the risk of whether this gets voted through at the Scheme Meeting on the 13th, and</li>
<li>the index impacts</li>
</ul>
There is, as always, more below the fold.
</div><hr><div><table class="table table-striped">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="width: 539pt;"><h2>History of Insights on the Situation</h2></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Date</td>
<td>Title</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>22 Jun 21</td>
<td><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/milton-merger-is-a-most-marvelous-arb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Milton Merger Is A Most Marvelous Arb</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>24 Jun 21</td>
<td><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/milton-whsp-merger-index-implications-and-the-marvelous-arb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Milton-WHSP Merger Index Implications and the Marvelous Arb</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>21 Jul 21</td>
<td><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/milton-s-marvelous-arm-meanders-along-marvelously" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Milton’s Marvelous Arb Meanders Along... Marvelously</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5 Aug 21</td>
<td><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/the-still-marvelous-milton-arb-confirms-its-schedule-much-marvelousness-to-come" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The STILL MARVELOUS Milton Arb Confirms Its Schedule - Much Marvelousness to Come</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>12 Aug 21</td>
<td><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/the-magnality-of-the-marvelous-milton-merger-makes-a-moribund-march-to-metaphysis-it-s-mirific" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Magnality of the Marvelous Milton Merger Makes a Moribund March To Metaphysis (It’s Mirific!)</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>25 Aug 21</td>
<td>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/marvelous-milton-making-its-move-new-30yr-highs-on-both-stocks" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:56651" rel="noopener">Marvelous Milton Making Its Move - New 30yr Highs On Both Stocks</a> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div><div></div>

On 2 September at 7pm Australia time, the Marvelous Milton Merger Arb ratio was fixed, and just now it was announced. The ratio of Milton Corp Ltd (MLT AU) shares to Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (SOL AU) shares has been decided at 0.1863. Entitlements will be rounded up or down to the nearest share.Those who have been following on my model would have the NAV at A$5.622 on 2 Sep at the close, or A$5.702/share including the A$0.08 of dividend which went ex- on August 31. That delivered me a number of 0.1864 but they started with A$5.70 rather than A$5.702.As reported in the AFR, both major proxy services came out in favor of the deal saying advantages outweighed disadvantages, and noting the IE's "fair value" range said pricing was appropriate; in a good quote from the article, "there were no stones thrown", which usually results in an approval at the Scheme Meeting.The schedule reported in the filing is unchanged from the schedule in the Scheme Booklet.
Today's announcement means the merger trade is "fixed" rather than floating and now the remaining "risks" are...

a small and eminently arb-able risk arb spread (which is 3.56% less comms and borrow fees as I type (excluding any franking credit benefit)
the risk of whether this gets voted through at the Scheme Meeting on the 13th, and
the index impacts

There is, as always, more below the fold.






History of Insights on the Situation

Date
Title


22 Jun 21
Milton Merger Is A Most Marvelous Arb


24 Jun 21
Milton-WHSP Merger Index Implications and the Marvelous Arb


21 Jul 21
Milton’s Marvelous Arb Meanders Along... Marvelously


5 Aug 21
The STILL MARVELOUS Milton Arb Confirms Its Schedule - Much Marvelousness to Come


12 Aug 21
The Magnality of the Marvelous Milton Merger Makes a Moribund March To Metaphysis (It’s Mirific!)


25 Aug 21

Marvelous Milton Making Its Move - New 30yr Highs On Both Stocks 




Marvelous Milton Merger Mapping Mabbled: Ratio Done, Now For The Hard Part

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

Wisdomtree Japan Hedged Eq / Technical Analysis

Market dynamics continue to send mixed signals, but the bottom line is that not one MSCI ACWI Sector is breaking down, and important price support levels are holding in the US, Europe, and Japan. Additionally, the MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, and EAFE indexes all remain above critical support levels. Until supports start to break we cannot be bearish. It is also worth noting that various indicators could be making a turn for the better, including early signs of interest rates bottoming in the US and Germany, a potential false breakdown in crude oil, and high yield spreads leveling-out.

Market dynamics continue to send mixed signals, but the bottom line is that not one MSCI ACWI Sector is breaking down, and important price support levels are holding in the US, Europe, and Japan. Additionally, the MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, and EAFE indexes all remain above critical support levels. Until supports start to break we cannot be bearish. It is also worth noting that various indicators could be making a turn for the better, including early signs of interest rates bottoming in the US and Germany, a potential false breakdown in crude oil, and high yield spreads leveling-out.

Critical Supports Holding in the US, Europe, & Japan; Buying Health Care, Utilities, Materials, Tech

Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

"Social" has been a third-wheel ESG pillar for a long time. Not that it matters any less, and there is plenty of evidence that strong Social-pillar ESG performance can do a lot of  good for a stock price. Rather, it's that the Social pillar stuff is more ethereal, harder to wrap one's head around. And, let's face it, the Social ESG pillar is a little more rosewater than crude oil.It is amazing how a global pandemic changes things. Whether it is ESG's social or Corporate Social Responsibility's (CSR) "social," socially-responsibility – as well as social irresponsibility or inaction – by corporations are front-and-center. In prior reports I assessed corporate coronavirus responses from an ESG perspective. In doing so, I something became increasingly (and painfully) obvious:Company responses are very diverse (as they should be), making comparative analysis difficult.For society, comparisons aren't necessarily relevant. A patient receiving better medical care due to a generous contribution from Company A probably doesn't care that Company B – same sector but the other side of the world – gave a larger contribution to its local hospital. For investors, however, comparisons kind of matter. After all, what's the value of a stand-alone P/E multiple?Rather than go insane trying to standardise and normalise everything – e.g., the economic value of donated masks or cost of retrofitting manufacturing lines to produce ventilators – I decided to look at coronavirus-related corporate philanthropy as a comparative metric. It is universal, quantifiable, and decidedly much easier to measure and value than, say, vats of hand sanitiser.This takes a data-driven look at coronavirus-related corporate social responsibility and specifically  philanthropy by listed companies in Asia Pacific countries. APAC first because Asian companies are doing a lot of giving, and nearly all of that inspirational cross-border humanitarian aid – including to the U.S., despite a certain orange-haired xenophobe in a white house.

"Social" has been a third-wheel ESG pillar for a long time. Not that it matters any less, and there is plenty of evidence that strong Social-pillar ESG performance can do a lot of  good for a stock price. Rather, it's that the Social pillar stuff is more ethereal, harder to wrap one's head around. And, let's face it, the Social ESG pillar is a little more rosewater than crude oil.It is amazing how a global pandemic changes things. Whether it is ESG's social or Corporate Social Responsibility's (CSR) "social," socially-responsibility – as well as social irresponsibility or inaction – by corporations are front-and-center. In prior reports I assessed corporate coronavirus responses from an ESG perspective. In doing so, I something became increasingly (and painfully) obvious:Company responses are very diverse (as they should be), making comparative analysis difficult.For society, comparisons aren't necessarily relevant. A patient receiving better medical care due to a generous contribution from Company A probably doesn't care that Company B – same sector but the other side of the world – gave a larger contribution to its local hospital. For investors, however, comparisons kind of matter. After all, what's the value of a stand-alone P/E multiple?Rather than go insane trying to standardise and normalise everything – e.g., the economic value of donated masks or cost of retrofitting manufacturing lines to produce ventilators – I decided to look at coronavirus-related corporate philanthropy as a comparative metric. It is universal, quantifiable, and decidedly much easier to measure and value than, say, vats of hand sanitiser.This takes a data-driven look at coronavirus-related corporate social responsibility and specifically  philanthropy by listed companies in Asia Pacific countries. APAC first because Asian companies are doing a lot of giving, and nearly all of that inspirational cross-border humanitarian aid – including to the U.S., despite a certain orange-haired xenophobe in a white house.

COVID-19 and ESG: Tencent, Alibaba Lead in Coronavirus Aid for Asia Pacific Region

Several equity indexes and indicators we watch are telling us an initial primary low has been established for global equities (ACWI-US). At the same time, after this type of major waterfall decline there is often a test of this initial low - and oftentimes we get an undercut of the initial low. Barring approval of a first-line therapy for COVID-19 we are of the belief that we will get an eventual test of this initial low and potentially an undercut. In this report we highlight key technical levels and indicators to watch and suggest investment opportunities with defensive and/or growth characteristics. We are also expanding our recommendations to include bottom-up ideas within several other Sectors.

Several equity indexes and indicators we watch are telling us an initial primary low has been established for global equities (ACWI-US). At the same time, after this type of major waterfall decline there is often a test of this initial low - and oftentimes we get an undercut of the initial low. Barring approval of a first-line therapy for COVID-19 we are of the belief that we will get an eventual test of this initial low and potentially an undercut. In this report we highlight key technical levels and indicators to watch and suggest investment opportunities with defensive and/or growth characteristics. We are also expanding our recommendations to include bottom-up ideas within several other Sectors.

Global Equity Strategy: Initial Low Established

Macro and Australian equity strategist, Macro Strategy Advisors

Shane Lee

Macro and Australian equity strategist

Macro Strategy Advisors

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Our model portfolio has added 200bp of Alpha since our last update and our stock selection remains broadly unchanged.  However, we make some key changes to the weights of stocks in the portfolio after taking into account our view on the global cycle and macro and industry developments in the domestic market.   Since inception, we have outperformed the ASX 200 benchmark by 400bp. </li>
<li>We continue our strategy that we put in place early this year and again lift the bar on defensive positioning.  We move underweight resources but maintain exposure to the large-cap stocks in the sector by cutting our exposure to BHP, RIO and STO.  We also cut our exposure to OSH and WOR.</li>
<li>The Banks are struggling on several fronts and we move underweight ANZ and CBA.  We maintain our overweight in NAB and our underweight in WBC.  Remediation costs are still surprising on the upside and the prospect of even lower policy rates is putting downward pressure on net interest margins.  Moreover, we don’t see the recent rebound in loan approvals and turnaround in house prices driving up credit growth.  Many borrowers seem likely to save of spend on discretionary items the cash feed up from the rate cuts. </li>
<li>The global economic cycle is long-in-the-tooth and recession seems inevitable, with prospects of a large global equity drawdown rising since our last portfolio update in June.  Growth is still likely to do well until the cliff is reached, so we lift our exposure to IT and stocks such as TCL.  We maintain but reduce our exposure to CSL after this stellar run in the past couple of months.  We maintain our exposure to COH and RMD - it’s too early to exit these trades, in our view.  We also include COL into the portfolio to increase the defensive earnings exposure and gain exposure to the turnaround in the business.</li>
<li>Domestic cyclicals such as CWY, BIN, and CSR have underperformed in the past couple of months, but as the RBA presses on with policy support conditions should improve housing construction over time and benefit these stocks.  BAP depends on the consumer, but it has performed well since policy has eased and we expect this to continue.  Valuations are the main headwind to these cyclical exposures, but we think they should hold up relatively well in the global downturn provided domestic financial conditions are well supported.</li>
</ul>


Our model portfolio has added 200bp of Alpha since our last update and our stock selection remains broadly unchanged.  However, we make some key changes to the weights of stocks in the portfolio after taking into account our view on the global cycle and macro and industry developments in the domestic market.   Since inception, we have outperformed the ASX 200 benchmark by 400bp. 
We continue our strategy that we put in place early this year and again lift the bar on defensive positioning.  We move underweight resources but maintain exposure to the large-cap stocks in the sector by cutting our exposure to BHP, RIO and STO.  We also cut our exposure to OSH and WOR.
The Banks are struggling on several fronts and we move underweight ANZ and CBA.  We maintain our overweight in NAB and our underweight in WBC.  Remediation costs are still surprising on the upside and the prospect of even lower policy rates is putting downward pressure on net interest margins.  Moreover, we don’t see the recent rebound in loan approvals and turnaround in house prices driving up credit growth.  Many borrowers seem likely to save of spend on discretionary items the cash feed up from the rate cuts. 
The global economic cycle is long-in-the-tooth and recession seems inevitable, with prospects of a large global equity drawdown rising since our last portfolio update in June.  Growth is still likely to do well until the cliff is reached, so we lift our exposure to IT and stocks such as TCL.  We maintain but reduce our exposure to CSL after this stellar run in the past couple of months.  We maintain our exposure to COH and RMD - it’s too early to exit these trades, in our view.  We also include COL into the portfolio to increase the defensive earnings exposure and gain exposure to the turnaround in the business.
Domestic cyclicals such as CWY, BIN, and CSR have underperformed in the past couple of months, but as the RBA presses on with policy support conditions should improve housing construction over time and benefit these stocks.  BAP depends on the consumer, but it has performed well since policy has eased and we expect this to continue.  Valuations are the main headwind to these cyclical exposures, but we think they should hold up relatively well in the global downturn provided domestic financial conditions are well supported.


Aussie Equities Model Portfolio Update (October): Sticking to the Knitting

Australia

CSL Limited develops, manufactures and markets human pharmaceutical and diagnostic products derived from human plasma. The Company's products include pediatric and adult vaccines, infection, pain medicine, skin disorder remedies, antivenoms, anticoagulants, and immunoglobulins.

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CSL Ltd (CSL AU)

Marvelous Milton Merger Mapping Mabbled: Ratio Done, Now For The Hard Part

Marvelous Milton Merger Mapping Mabbled. The ratio is settled at 0.1863 shares of WHSP for every share of Milton. Next is the index trade... But...

Travis Lundy

Critical Supports Holding in the US, Europe, & Japan; Buying Health Care, Utilities, Materials, Tech

Various indicators are making a turn for the better, including early signs of interest rates bottoming in the US and Germany, a false breakdown in...

Vermilion Research

COVID-19 and ESG: Tencent, Alibaba Lead in Coronavirus Aid for Asia Pacific Region

"Social" has been a third-wheel ESG pillar for a long time. Not that it matters any less, and there is plenty of evidence that strong Social-pillar...

Kyle Rudden

Global Equity Strategy: Initial Low Established

Several equity indexes and indicators we watch are telling us an initial primary low has been established for global equities (ACWI-US). At the...

Vermilion Research

Aussie Equities Model Portfolio Update (October): Sticking to the Knitting

Our model portfolio has added 200bp of Alpha since our last update and our stock selection remains broadly unchanged. However, we make some key...

Shane Lee

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