Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Equity Capital Markets

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<p><strong>In this insight, we provide an update of Kakao Bank </strong>which is getting ready to release its IPO prospectus in the coming days. Even without the prospectus, the company has already provided a lot of the the company's financials, industry analysis, and other materials in its annual and quarterly earnings filings. In this insight, we try to provide some of our key findings from its financial filings of Kakao Bank, but excluding the bankers' valuation assessment which is not yet available. </p>
<p>Kakao Bank is expected to be one of the largest IPOs in Korea in 2021. In the gray market, it is currently trading at 96,500 won per share or 39.5 trillion won. The two largest banks in Korea are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kb-financial-group-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:718:1" rel="noopener">KB Financial (105560 KS)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shinhan-financial-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6978:1" rel="noopener">Shinhan Financial (055550 KS),</a> which have market caps of 22.9 trillion won and 20.6 trillion won, respectively. As a result, Kakao Bank's market cap (in the gray market) is close to the combined market caps of KB Financial and Shinhan Financial (43.5 trillion won) which is quite remarkable. </p>
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In this insight, we provide an update of Kakao Bank which is getting ready to release its IPO prospectus in the coming days. Even without the prospectus, the company has already provided a lot of the the company's financials, industry analysis, and other materials in its annual and quarterly earnings filings. In this insight, we try to provide some of our key findings from its financial filings of Kakao Bank, but excluding the bankers' valuation assessment which is not yet available. 
Kakao Bank is expected to be one of the largest IPOs in Korea in 2021. In the gray market, it is currently trading at 96,500 won per share or 39.5 trillion won. The two largest banks in Korea are KB Financial (105560 KS) and Shinhan Financial (055550 KS), which have market caps of 22.9 trillion won and 20.6 trillion won, respectively. As a result, Kakao Bank's market cap (in the gray market) is close to the combined market caps of KB Financial and Shinhan Financial (43.5 trillion won) which is quite remarkable. 


Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing, Clepsydra Capital

Sanghyun Park

Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing

Clepsydra Capital

Investigate special situations, pairs, and index rebalancing trades in Korea.

Event-Driven

<h2>3 key points of the first earnings release</h2><hr><p><strong>Point 1: Kakao Bank recorded ₩116B in net profit in the first half, surpassing last year's annual performance just in half a year.</strong></p><div class="content-highlight"><p>This is an increase of 156.2% from the first half of last year. Net profit for the second quarter was ₩69B, up 158.7% from the second quarter of last year.</p></div><section class="figure"><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/224/268/original/Screen+Shot+2021-08-17+at+3.15.33+AM.png?1629184549" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="224268"></figure></section><hr>
<p><strong>Point 2: As for Kakao Bank's platform sector growth, stock account opening application services and loans linked to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) increased by 43% and 51%, respectively, from the end of the previous year.</strong></p>
<div class="content-highlight"><p>This platform sector performance is crucial in determining the possibility of Kakao Bank taking a healthier growth path. And it seems to have robust growth in this area.</p></div>
<section class="figure"><section class="figure"><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/224/295/original/Screen+Shot+2021-08-17+at+4.25.41+AM.png?1629188760" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="224295"></figure></section></section></section><hr>
<p><strong>Point 3: As of the end of June, Kakao Bank users stood at 16.71 million, an increase of 1.27 million from the end of last year.</strong></p>
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<p>The increase in new customers of Kakao Bank this year was led by people in their 40s and older. Since launching the service, the percentage of accumulated customers in their 20s and 30s was 54%, but 48% of new customers in the first half of this year are in their 40s and 50s.</p>
<p>This is a very positive signal for Kakao Bank, which tries to convert its flagship product from a low-yielding personal credit loan to a high-yield product, a mortgage loan.</p>
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<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/224/286/original/Screen+Shot+2021-08-17+at+3.40.11+AM.png?1629186027" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="224286"></figure></section></section>

3 key points of the first earnings releasePoint 1: Kakao Bank recorded ₩116B in net profit in the first half, surpassing last year's annual performance just in half a year.This is an increase of 156.2% from the first half of last year. Net profit for the second quarter was ₩69B, up 158.7% from the second quarter of last year.
Point 2: As for Kakao Bank's platform sector growth, stock account opening application services and loans linked to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) increased by 43% and 51%, respectively, from the end of the previous year.
This platform sector performance is crucial in determining the possibility of Kakao Bank taking a healthier growth path. And it seems to have robust growth in this area.

Point 3: As of the end of June, Kakao Bank users stood at 16.71 million, an increase of 1.27 million from the end of last year.

The increase in new customers of Kakao Bank this year was led by people in their 40s and older. Since launching the service, the percentage of accumulated customers in their 20s and 30s was 54%, but 48% of new customers in the first half of this year are in their 40s and 50s.
This is a very positive signal for Kakao Bank, which tries to convert its flagship product from a low-yielding personal credit loan to a high-yield product, a mortgage loan.



Local Retail-Led Momentum Trading Today, Preemptively Reflecting Kakao Bank's Earnings Release

Equity Bottom-Up

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<p>In this insight, we discuss the risk vs. reward of Kakao Bank shares after the sharp appreciation of its share price post IPO. Kakao Bank's share price has appreciated to 78,500 won, up 101% from the IPO price of 39,000 won. Kakao Bank's market cap has ballooned to 37.3 trillion won.</p>
<p>Kakao Bank has now become the 10th largest stock in KOSPI. Kakao Bank's market cap is now similar to the combined market caps of the two largest banking groups in Korea including <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kb-financial-group-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:718:1" rel="noopener">KB Financial (105560 KS)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shinhan-financial-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6978:1" rel="noopener">Shinhan Financial (055550 KS)</a> - 42 trillion won. After this sharp appreciation, we believe that the risk-reward ratio of Kakao Bank is no longer attractive and change our view on the company to <strong>NEGATIVE.  </strong></p>
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In this insight, we discuss the risk vs. reward of Kakao Bank shares after the sharp appreciation of its share price post IPO. Kakao Bank's share price has appreciated to 78,500 won, up 101% from the IPO price of 39,000 won. Kakao Bank's market cap has ballooned to 37.3 trillion won.
Kakao Bank has now become the 10th largest stock in KOSPI. Kakao Bank's market cap is now similar to the combined market caps of the two largest banking groups in Korea including KB Financial (105560 KS) and Shinhan Financial (055550 KS) - 42 trillion won. After this sharp appreciation, we believe that the risk-reward ratio of Kakao Bank is no longer attractive and change our view on the company to NEGATIVE.  


South Korea

KakaoBank Corp. operates bank businesses. The Company provides deposit money, withdraw money, credit cards, stock accounts, linked loans, and other services. KakaoBank conducts businesses in South Korea.

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KakaoBank (323410 KS)

An Update on the Kakao Bank IPO

We provide an update of Kakao Bank which is getting ready to release its IPO prospectus in the coming days. In the gray market, it is trading at...

Douglas Kim

Local Retail-Led Momentum Trading Today, Preemptively Reflecting Kakao Bank's Earnings Release

This post summarizes the three key points of Kakao Bank's first earnings release today. It then discusses today's price movement and what we should...

Sanghyun Park

Kakao Bank - Risk Vs. Reward Post IPO

After this sharp appreciation, we believe that the risk-reward ratio of Kakao Bank is no longer attractive and change our view on the company to...

Douglas Kim

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