Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

In a recently published report (<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/cop26-u-n-climate-conference-to-address-mitigation-financing-and-carbon-pricing" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:59779" rel="noopener">COP26: U.N. Climate Conference to Address Mitigation, Financing, and Carbon Pricing</a>) I mentioned how the COP26 international climate conference (31 October to 12 November) will have far-reaching implications for global capital markets and investing.That Insight was largely about the COP26 conference itself – background, objectives, three critical agenda items with trillions of dollars at stake, and that will influence global financial markets from today (headlines coming out of the conference) through the end of this century.That report was necessary context for this Insight and others that will follow; successively deeper dives into country-specific climate action plans, and investment themes and trading ideas around the COP26 conference and climate change in general. This is the first of those follow-up reports.Herein, I present a brief overview of investment themes and angles directly linked to the three key COP26 agenda items: 1) mitigation of global warming, 2) climate finance, and 3) the development of international carbon markets and pricing mechanisms. Themes and subthemes such as:<ul>
<li>
Climate Transition: "Green" utilities, renewable energy, cleantech, electric vehicles and other areas of smart mobility, green buildings, and related. The "buy solar, sell coal" kinds of stuff.</li>
<li>
Climate Financing: Financial sector stocks poised to benefit from climate change mitigation, reduced risk from portfolio debarbonisation, and new inflows into sustainable/ESG funds.</li>
<li>
Carbon Markets: Pure-play (or close thereto) carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS) stocks, plus a few financial sector overlaps (e.g., related to carbon markets, futures, etc.)</li>
</ul>

In a recently published report (COP26: U.N. Climate Conference to Address Mitigation, Financing, and Carbon Pricing) I mentioned how the COP26 international climate conference (31 October to 12 November) will have far-reaching implications for global capital markets and investing.That Insight was largely about the COP26 conference itself – background, objectives, three critical agenda items with trillions of dollars at stake, and that will influence global financial markets from today (headlines coming out of the conference) through the end of this century.That report was necessary context for this Insight and others that will follow; successively deeper dives into country-specific climate action plans, and investment themes and trading ideas around the COP26 conference and climate change in general. This is the first of those follow-up reports.Herein, I present a brief overview of investment themes and angles directly linked to the three key COP26 agenda items: 1) mitigation of global warming, 2) climate finance, and 3) the development of international carbon markets and pricing mechanisms. Themes and subthemes such as:

Climate Transition: "Green" utilities, renewable energy, cleantech, electric vehicles and other areas of smart mobility, green buildings, and related. The "buy solar, sell coal" kinds of stuff.

Climate Financing: Financial sector stocks poised to benefit from climate change mitigation, reduced risk from portfolio debarbonisation, and new inflows into sustainable/ESG funds.

Carbon Markets: Pure-play (or close thereto) carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS) stocks, plus a few financial sector overlaps (e.g., related to carbon markets, futures, etc.)


COP26: An Overview of Investment Themes and Catalysts Related to COP26 Conference

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

Simplex Holdings / Equity Capital Markets

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked among the top companies in IDC Fintech rankings over the past nine years.Simplex provides consulting, system development, maintenance and operations to banks, asset managers and insurance companies in Asia. Simplex was established in Sep 97. It was listed on JASDAQ in Feb 2002 and progressed to the First Section in Sep 2005. The company undertook an MBO, in Apr 2013 and was delisted in Oct 2013.Since delisting, Simplex has expanded its product offering further to cover life insurance and non-life insurance companies as well, along with crypto exchanges. It has been reporting steady revenue growth over the past few years, although its margins have been volatile. Its performance prior to delisting wasn’t great, as it missed its medium term targets, and it now appears to be at peak margins.We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/simplex-holdings-pre-ipo-steady-topline-growth-but-appears-to-be-at-peak-margins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Steady topline growth but appears to be at peak margins</a>.In this note we will undertake a peer comparison and talk about valuations.

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked among the top companies in IDC Fintech rankings over the past nine years.Simplex provides consulting, system development, maintenance and operations to banks, asset managers and insurance companies in Asia. Simplex was established in Sep 97. It was listed on JASDAQ in Feb 2002 and progressed to the First Section in Sep 2005. The company undertook an MBO, in Apr 2013 and was delisted in Oct 2013.Since delisting, Simplex has expanded its product offering further to cover life insurance and non-life insurance companies as well, along with crypto exchanges. It has been reporting steady revenue growth over the past few years, although its margins have been volatile. Its performance prior to delisting wasn’t great, as it missed its medium term targets, and it now appears to be at peak margins.We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier note, Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Steady topline growth but appears to be at peak margins.In this note we will undertake a peer comparison and talk about valuations.

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Peer Comp, Valuation - Lagging in Size but Leading in Growth and Margins

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Equity Bottom-Up

Nomura Research Institute / Equity Bottom-Up

On 21 June 2021, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nomura-research-institute-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18129:1" rel="noopener">Nomura Research Institute Ltd (4307 JP)</a> announced (<a href="https://ir.nri.com/jp/ir/news/auto_20210621452515/pdfFile.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link</a>) a buyback program of up to 20,000,000 shares (3.30% of shares out) spending up to ¥60 billion, with the program running from 22 June 2021 to 30 December 2021, with possible buying on market and on ToSTNeT-3, but excluding dates in the 10 days around the day after the quarterly results announcements. The company ALSO announced a ToSTNeT-3 buyback tomorrow morning for up to 16,925,200 shares at today's closing price of ¥3,545/share. That 16.925mm shares at that price = ¥59,999,834,000 so one can assume that if the ToSTNeT-3 buyback is completed to the full extent, that will mean the buyback program will be done tomorrow before the market opens.The announcement suggested that <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nomura-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:742:1" rel="noopener">Nomura Holdings (8604 JP)</a> intended to sell as many as 14.105 million shares in the buyback leaving 2.815mm shares for other holders if they want to sell Monday's close. But I remind readers that a) short selling is allowed, and b) it is entirely pro rata (with some niggling little procedural exceptions) so if people stepped in to sell, they would probably get a decent portion of their offer sold at that price. More below the fold.

On 21 June 2021, Nomura Research Institute Ltd (4307 JP) announced (link) a buyback program of up to 20,000,000 shares (3.30% of shares out) spending up to ¥60 billion, with the program running from 22 June 2021 to 30 December 2021, with possible buying on market and on ToSTNeT-3, but excluding dates in the 10 days around the day after the quarterly results announcements. The company ALSO announced a ToSTNeT-3 buyback tomorrow morning for up to 16,925,200 shares at today's closing price of ¥3,545/share. That 16.925mm shares at that price = ¥59,999,834,000 so one can assume that if the ToSTNeT-3 buyback is completed to the full extent, that will mean the buyback program will be done tomorrow before the market opens.The announcement suggested that Nomura Holdings (8604 JP) intended to sell as many as 14.105 million shares in the buyback leaving 2.815mm shares for other holders if they want to sell Monday's close. But I remind readers that a) short selling is allowed, and b) it is entirely pro rata (with some niggling little procedural exceptions) so if people stepped in to sell, they would probably get a decent portion of their offer sold at that price. More below the fold. 

Nomura Research Institute ToSTNeT-3 Buyback

More and more, companies are using cryptocurrency (especially Bitcoin) as part of their corporate treasury management strategies, discussed in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bitcoin-on-balance-sheets-indirect-crypto-exposure-considerations-for-crypto-leery-esg-investors" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:52207" rel="noopener">Bitcoin on Balance Sheets: Indirect Crypto Exposure Considerations for Crypto-Leery ESG Investors</a>. That trend is behind the topic of this report.Greater mainstream corporate and institutional use of Bitcoin is driving the growth in demand for cryptocurrency custody services, and banks around the world are rushing to fill that demand. It is a logical and relatively safe foray into the cryptocurrency space, albeit not without some risk.For ESG investors wishing to avoid direct or indirect cryptocurrency exposure, perhaps due to their views on crypto's wretched Environmental footprint, the banks herein will have significant indirect crypto exposure. However, I personally find it hard to be categorically bearish on this theme.Whilst the theme in the first Insight (holding Bitcoin on balance sheets) represents real risk, this is different. It could be argued that crypto custody perpetuates <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bitcoin-usd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25895:1" rel="noopener">Bitcoin (XBT)</a>'s climate impacts, thus is a bad thing. Perhaps, from a purely idealistic ESG viewpoint, that is partially true.However, the connection from custody service to carbon emissions is so far removed, and the risks associated with entering the crypto custody space are so comparatively minimal, that the opinion on this theme should be "neutral" at worst, and definitely not across-the-board "negative."But really, that is for each investor to decide, because the crypto/ESG issue is highly subjective.

More and more, companies are using cryptocurrency (especially Bitcoin) as part of their corporate treasury management strategies, discussed in Bitcoin on Balance Sheets: Indirect Crypto Exposure Considerations for Crypto-Leery ESG Investors. That trend is behind the topic of this report.Greater mainstream corporate and institutional use of Bitcoin is driving the growth in demand for cryptocurrency custody services, and banks around the world are rushing to fill that demand. It is a logical and relatively safe foray into the cryptocurrency space, albeit not without some risk.For ESG investors wishing to avoid direct or indirect cryptocurrency exposure, perhaps due to their views on crypto's wretched Environmental footprint, the banks herein will have significant indirect crypto exposure. However, I personally find it hard to be categorically bearish on this theme.Whilst the theme in the first Insight (holding Bitcoin on balance sheets) represents real risk, this is different. It could be argued that crypto custody perpetuates Bitcoin (XBT)'s climate impacts, thus is a bad thing. Perhaps, from a purely idealistic ESG viewpoint, that is partially true.However, the connection from custody service to carbon emissions is so far removed, and the risks associated with entering the crypto custody space are so comparatively minimal, that the opinion on this theme should be "neutral" at worst, and definitely not across-the-board "negative."But really, that is for each investor to decide, because the crypto/ESG issue is highly subjective.

Banks on the Bitcoin Bandwagon: Cashing in Through Crypto Custody Services

Renesas Electronics / Equity Capital Markets

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares.The current deal would be of somewhat similar size as two of the past deals that we have covered for Renesas:<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">US$2.8bn bn in 2017 <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/renesas-electronics-placement-additional-thoughts-on-valuation-flotation-and-ownership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renesas Electronics Placement: Additional Thoughts on Valuation, Flotation, and Ownership</a></li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">US$2.4bn in 2018 <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/renesas-placement-tighter-effective-discount-and-placement-overhangs-but-statistic-supports-a-bid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renesas Placement: Tighter Effective Discount and Placement Overhangs but Statistic Supports a Bid</a></li>
</ul>In this insight, we'll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about deal dynamics.

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares.The current deal would be of somewhat similar size as two of the past deals that we have covered for Renesas:
US$2.8bn bn in 2017 Renesas Electronics Placement: Additional Thoughts on Valuation, Flotation, and Ownership
US$2.4bn in 2018 Renesas Placement: Tighter Effective Discount and Placement Overhangs but Statistic Supports a Bid
In this insight, we'll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about deal dynamics.

Renesas Placement - Very Well Flagged, past Deals Have Done Well but Large Size Warrants Correction

Japan

Nomura Holdings, Inc. is a holding company which manages financial operations for its subsidiaries.  As a group, the Company provides a variety of financial services such as dealing, brokerage, underwriting, and asset management. Nomura Securities Co., a registered member of the New York and London Stock Exchanges, has branches around the world.

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Nomura Holdings (8604 JP)

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Peer Comp, Valuation - Lagging in Size but Leading in Growth and Margins

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked...

Sumeet Singh

Nomura Research Institute ToSTNeT-3 Buyback

NRI is one of the higher-multiple (forward consensus EV/EBIT or EV/EBITDA) Japanese IT service companies. There is a PRE-OPEN ToSTNeT-3 buyback...

Travis Lundy

Banks on the Bitcoin Bandwagon: Cashing in Through Crypto Custody Services

Bitcoin holdings by issuers and investors is driving crypto custody demand. Big banks are stepping. A big opportunity, but some ESG investors might...

Kyle Rudden

Renesas Placement - Very Well Flagged, past Deals Have Done Well but Large Size Warrants Correction

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares. The current deal would be of somewhat...

Sumeet Singh

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COP26: An Overview of Investment Themes and Catalysts Related to COP26 Conference

COP26, the climate conference happening now, will impact global capital markets. Perhaps over the next two weeks, depending on headlines, but...

Kyle Rudden

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Peer Comp, Valuation - Lagging in Size but Leading in Growth and Margins

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company. Simplex has consistently been ranked...

Sumeet Singh

Nomura Research Institute ToSTNeT-3 Buyback

NRI is one of the higher-multiple (forward consensus EV/EBIT or EV/EBITDA) Japanese IT service companies. There is a *PRE-OPEN* ToSTNeT-3 buyback...

Travis Lundy

Banks on the Bitcoin Bandwagon: Cashing in Through Crypto Custody Services

Bitcoin holdings by issuers and investors is driving crypto custody demand. Big banks are stepping. A big opportunity, but some ESG investors might...

Kyle Rudden

Renesas Placement - Very Well Flagged, past Deals Have Done Well but Large Size Warrants Correction

Renesas, along with INCJ, aims to raise around US$3.4bn via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares. The current deal would be of somewhat...

Sumeet Singh

NRI is one of the higher-multiple (forward consensus EV/EBIT or EV/EBITDA) Japanese IT service companies. There is a PRE-OPEN ToSTNeT-3 buyback...