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

<ul>
<li>A group of shareholders aims to raise around US$1.3bn via selling around 11% of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/asics-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16287:1" rel="noopener">ASICS Corp (7936 JP)</a>.</li>
<li>For the two large banks, this will be a cleanup of their cross-shareholding.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.</li>
</ul>


A group of shareholders aims to raise around US$1.3bn via selling around 11% of ASICS Corp (7936 JP).
For the two large banks, this will be a cleanup of their cross-shareholding.
In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.


ASICS Placement - Needs to Correct, but Watch Out for the Revision Impact

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>KKR raised around US$730m via selling some stake in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kokusai-electric-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:40152:1" rel="noopener">Kokusai Electric (6525 JP)</a> Japan IPO in Sep 2023. Its remaining stake will be released from its IPO linked lockup soon.</li>
<li>KE main business activities consist of the manufacturing, sales and maintenance service of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.</li>
<li>In this note, we talk about the upcoming lock-up expiry and possible deal dynamics.</li>
</ul>


KKR raised around US$730m via selling some stake in Kokusai Electric (6525 JP) Japan IPO in Sep 2023. Its remaining stake will be released from its IPO linked lockup soon.
KE main business activities consist of the manufacturing, sales and maintenance service of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
In this note, we talk about the upcoming lock-up expiry and possible deal dynamics.


Kokusai Electric IPO Lock-Up - KKR Will Be Tempted by the US$2.7bn Release but Might Have to Wait

Japan Hotel Reit Investment / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/japan-hotel-reit-investment" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:144:1" rel="noopener">Japan Hotel Reit Investment (8985 JP)</a> aims to raise around US$214m to partly fund the acquisition of four hotel assets.</li>
<li>The company has undertaken a number of deals in the past, most of which have managed to perform well.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.</li>
</ul>



Japan Hotel Reit Investment (8985 JP) aims to raise around US$214m to partly fund the acquisition of four hotel assets.
The company has undertaken a number of deals in the past, most of which have managed to perform well.
In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.


Japan Hotel REIT Placement - Relatively Large Deal but It Is Accretive

Asia L/S Equity PM/Macro/Thematic Idea Generation

Rikki Malik

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>The main Japanese indices have been moving sideways this year</li>
<li>Continued weakness in the JPY has diminished returns in USD terms</li>
<li>Technically the market has similar weak underlying breadth as the US market</li>
</ul>


The main Japanese indices have been moving sideways this year
Continued weakness in the JPY has diminished returns in USD terms
Technically the market has similar weak underlying breadth as the US market


Revisiting the Japanese Market – Time to Increase Allocations?

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kawasaki-kisen-kaisha-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3548:1" rel="noopener">Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (9107 JP)</a> today announced earnings. Ocean Network Express earnings were out earlier and beyond that, Consolidated Revs beat, OP faltered, but NP was spot on guidance.</li>
<li>Guidance for the year to March 2025 is well ahead of consensus on revenue, slightly ahead on OP, and just a wee bit ahead on NP. </li>
<li>But the company raised its 5yr MTMP Shareholder Return from ¥500bn to ¥700bn and set a new ¥100bn (5.5%) buyback to be executed in the next 3 months.</li>
</ul>



Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (9107 JP) today announced earnings. Ocean Network Express earnings were out earlier and beyond that, Consolidated Revs beat, OP faltered, but NP was spot on guidance.
Guidance for the year to March 2025 is well ahead of consensus on revenue, slightly ahead on OP, and just a wee bit ahead on NP. 
But the company raised its 5yr MTMP Shareholder Return from ¥500bn to ¥700bn and set a new ¥100bn (5.5%) buyback to be executed in the next 3 months.


KLINE (9107) - More Profit, More Shareholder Return 3mo Buyback Inbound

Japan

iShares MSCI Japan ETF is an exchange-traded fund incorporated in the USA. The ETF's objective seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the performance of the Japanese market, as measured by the MSCI Japan Index. The ETF invests in a representative sample of index stocks in a variety of sectors using a market cap weighted "portfolio sampling" technique.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ US)

ASICS Placement - Needs to Correct, but Watch Out for the Revision Impact

A group of shareholders aims to raise around US$1.3bn via selling around 11% of ASICS Corp (7936 JP). In this note, we talk about the deal dynamics.

Sumeet Singh

Kokusai Electric IPO Lock-Up - KKR Will Be Tempted by the US$2.7bn Release but Might Have to Wait

As per media reports, KKR is considering sell half its stake in Kokusai, with the company planning to buyback some shares as well. The company has...

Sumeet Singh

Japan Hotel REIT Placement - Relatively Large Deal but It Is Accretive

Japan Hotel Reit Investment (8985 JP) aims to raise around US$214m to partly fund the acquisition of four hotel assets. In this note, we will run...

Sumeet Singh

Revisiting the Japanese Market – Time to Increase Allocations?

Japanese indices have been stagnant due to a weak JPY and share a technically weak underlying breadth as the US market.

Rikki Malik

KLINE (9107) - More Profit, More Shareholder Return 3mo Buyback Inbound

KLINE beat earnings by a bit. Guidance beats Street expectations by a little. But ROE is still a bit low. A big buyback is accretive, and could get...

Travis Lundy

ASICS Placement - Needs to Correct, but Watch Out for the Revision Impact

A group of shareholders aims to raise around US$1.3bn via selling around 11% of ASICS Corp (7936 JP). In this note, we talk about the deal dynamics.

Sumeet Singh

Kokusai Electric IPO Lock-Up - KKR Will Be Tempted by the US$2.7bn Release but Might Have to Wait

As per media reports, KKR is considering sell half its stake in Kokusai, with the company planning to buyback some shares as well. The company has...

Sumeet Singh

Japan Hotel REIT Placement - Relatively Large Deal but It Is Accretive

Japan Hotel Reit Investment (8985 JP) aims to raise around US$214m to partly fund the acquisition of four hotel assets. In this note, we will run...

Sumeet Singh

Revisiting the Japanese Market – Time to Increase Allocations?

​Japanese indices have been stagnant due to a weak JPY and share a technically weak underlying breadth as the US market.

Rikki Malik

KLINE (9107) - More Profit, More Shareholder Return 3mo Buyback Inbound

KLINE beat earnings by a bit. Guidance beats Street expectations by a little. But ROE is still a bit low. A big buyback is accretive, and could get...

Travis Lundy

Japanese indices have been stagnant due to a weak JPY and share a technically weak underlying breadth as the US market.