Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>9 weeks ago, the FT reported Elliott Management had a stake in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-fudosan-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:565:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui Fudosan (8801 JP)</a> and had asked them to sell cross-holdings and do a ¥1trln buyback. </li>
<li>The stock popped 7% the next day to ¥1302, on the highest volume since the covid crash, hesitated a day, then powered almost 20% higher through the end of March. </li>
<li>Today, Mitsui Fudosan responded with an Amendment to their Plan out to 2030. It has a higher dividend, a share buyback, higher EPS target growth, and higher ROE target. But...</li>
</ul>


9 weeks ago, the FT reported Elliott Management had a stake in Mitsui Fudosan (8801 JP) and had asked them to sell cross-holdings and do a ¥1trln buyback. 
The stock popped 7% the next day to ¥1302, on the highest volume since the covid crash, hesitated a day, then powered almost 20% higher through the end of March. 
Today, Mitsui Fudosan responded with an Amendment to their Plan out to 2030. It has a higher dividend, a share buyback, higher EPS target growth, and higher ROE target. But...


JAPAN ACTIVISM:  Mitsui Fudosan (8801) Responds to Elliott with Buyback, Amended Long-Term Plan

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.

<ul>
<li>The Japanese Financial Services Agency has asked the general insurers to reduce/eliminate their cross-shareholdings.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sompo-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:632:1" rel="noopener">Sompo Holdings (8630 JP)</a> had a stake over US$100m in at least 16 listed Japanese stocks, amounting to a total of around US$6bn.</li>
<li>In this note, we take a look at its stakes in various companies to see which ones could possibly be candidates for further selldowns.</li>
</ul>


The Japanese Financial Services Agency has asked the general insurers to reduce/eliminate their cross-shareholdings.

Sompo Holdings (8630 JP) had a stake over US$100m in at least 16 listed Japanese stocks, amounting to a total of around US$6bn.
In this note, we take a look at its stakes in various companies to see which ones could possibly be candidates for further selldowns.


Sompo Holdings Cross-Shareholding - At Least US$8bn of Cross-Shareholding to Sell

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.</li>
<li>On the IPO front, Hong Kong appears to be heading towards its first US$100m+ IPO for the year.</li>
<li>For placements, after a flurry of placements in the prior week, past week was relatively quiet with only the US$2bn <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/itc-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:327:1" rel="noopener">ITC Ltd (ITC IN)</a> block.</li>
</ul>


Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.
On the IPO front, Hong Kong appears to be heading towards its first US$100m+ IPO for the year.
For placements, after a flurry of placements in the prior week, past week was relatively quiet with only the US$2bn ITC Ltd (ITC IN) block.


ECM Weekly (18th Mar 2024) - ITC, Interglobe (Indigo), MS&AD, GlobalWafer, Belle, Auntea, Trial

Research and consultancy, Tabbush Report

Daniel Tabbush

Research and consultancy

Tabbush Report

We provide research and consultancy on Asian banks. Our focus is on what we call “Asian bank research, without the noise.” We are interested in the most critical swing-factors for banks, the NPL and credit cycle, and where we believe there is a gap between perception and reality. We often focus on the less studied components of bank financial statements.  Our research is highly thematic, sometimes examining unlisted banks and companies as a window on mainstream banks. 

Being independent allows us to look at smaller banks, often overlooked by others. Analysis of BIS bank guidelines in the context of Asia, is also a focal point, while we also analyze global banks operating in the region. We use what we believe is the most comprehensive, reliable financials database, SNL Financial. S&P Capital IQ augments our database, with corporate data and CEIC, with economics. 

Asian bank research, without the noise.

Equity Bottom-Up

Dai Ichi Life Insurance / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/dai-ichi-life-insurance" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1109:1" rel="noopener">Dai Ichi Life Insurance (8750 JP)</a> has seen rebounding net profit at a strong rate of growth for the past four quarters. </li>
<li>ROE has moved from a dismal 3.4% to 11.8% from 2Q23 to 2Q24, where a single US bank impairment should now drop out of the numbers</li>
<li>New business annual premiums are up from JPY97bn to JPY122bn from 2Q23 to 2Q24 with a high solvency ratio of 654% </li>
</ul>



Dai Ichi Life Insurance (8750 JP) has seen rebounding net profit at a strong rate of growth for the past four quarters. 
ROE has moved from a dismal 3.4% to 11.8% from 2Q23 to 2Q24, where a single US bank impairment should now drop out of the numbers
New business annual premiums are up from JPY97bn to JPY122bn from 2Q23 to 2Q24 with a high solvency ratio of 654% 


Dai-Ichi Life Holdings - 4 Quarters Strongly Rising Profit, ROE: 3% to 12%, A Profit Upgrade?

Fintech & EM-focused Analyst, KT Capital Group

Alec Tseung

Fintech & EM-focused Analyst

KT Capital Group

Principal investments and advisory firm that focuses on connecting the CIS countries with East Asia.

Principal investments and advisory firm

<ul>
<li>Japan Post Insurance might seem undervalued based on a regression analysis, but its relatively strong RoE was due to extraordinary gains.</li>
<li>The company has a much larger portion of its investment securities being carried at cost on the balance sheet vs. its peer, Dai-ichi Life.  </li>
<li>Against the backdrop of Japan's "higher for longer" theme, its embedded value growth could be under more pressure due to ANW's m-t-m adjustments and very weak new business value.</li>
</ul>


Japan Post Insurance might seem undervalued based on a regression analysis, but its relatively strong RoE was due to extraordinary gains.
The company has a much larger portion of its investment securities being carried at cost on the balance sheet vs. its peer, Dai-ichi Life.  
Against the backdrop of Japan's "higher for longer" theme, its embedded value growth could be under more pressure due to ANW's m-t-m adjustments and very weak new business value.


Japan Post Insurance: Embedded Value Unlikely to Benefit from a Rate Increase

Japan

MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. is a holding company established through reorganization of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited.  The Group writes marine, fire, casualty, automobile, life, and allied insurance policies. MS&AD Insurance Group also operates financial services and agencies.

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MS&AD Insurance (8725 JP)

JAPAN ACTIVISM: Mitsui Fudosan (8801) Responds to Elliott with Buyback, Amended Long-Term Plan

Elliott Management bought Mitsui Fudosan. Argued for asset sales and buybacks. Mitsui Fudosan has responded with plans for asset sales and...

Travis Lundy

Sompo Holdings Cross-Shareholding - At Least US$8bn of Cross-Shareholding to Sell

The Japanese Financial Services Agency has asked the general insurers to reduce/eliminate their cross-shareholdings. Sompo had a stake of over...

Sumeet Singh

ECM Weekly (18th Mar 2024) - ITC, Interglobe (Indigo), MS&AD, GlobalWafer, Belle, Auntea, Trial

Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.

Sumeet Singh

Dai-Ichi Life Holdings - 4 Quarters Strongly Rising Profit, ROE: 3% to 12%, A Profit Upgrade?

Dai-ichi Life Holdings is a sprawling global insurer and asset manager, with Japan, Australia and US as key markets. Profit is improving strongly,...

Daniel Tabbush

Japan Post Insurance: Embedded Value Unlikely to Benefit from a Rate Increase

Japan Post Insurance's share price has come down by c. 10% since its peak when the note was published in mid. Nov. underperforming both the broader...

Alec Tseung

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