Founder

Kemp Dolliver, CFA

Cherrystone Hill Research

Equity Capital Markets

JD Health International  / Equity Capital Markets

Healthcare’s presence in Asian capital markets has increased substantially over the last four years on the heels of substantial investments in private markets (VC/PE). Policy reforms and changes in listing rules, most notably in China, have led to an explosion of market cap creation for the sector as the universe of companies has expanded to include innovative companies, most notably pre-revenue biopharmaceutical companies. At the same time, substantial investments in digital healthcare, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, adds a new source of listed companies. This Insight focuses on leading unlisted healthcare companies in China, India, and ASEAN that have raised substantial amounts of capital and appear to be candidates for listing.

Healthcare’s presence in Asian capital markets has increased substantially over the last four years on the heels of substantial investments in private markets (VC/PE). Policy reforms and changes in listing rules, most notably in China, have led to an explosion of market cap creation for the sector as the universe of companies has expanded to include innovative companies, most notably pre-revenue biopharmaceutical companies. At the same time, substantial investments in digital healthcare, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, adds a new source of listed companies. This Insight focuses on leading unlisted healthcare companies in China, India, and ASEAN that have raised substantial amounts of capital and appear to be candidates for listing.   

Covering IPOs, Healthcare and Technology Stocks

Andrei Zakharov

Algosun Global

Equity Bottom-Up

Previous week EU finally approved new contract with the German biotech company CureVac to purchase 225 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and option to buy additional 180 million doses next year. CureVac plans to initiate global Phase 2b/3 clinical trials as soon as possible and is going to expand its manufacturing capacities to 300 million doses in 2021 and 600 million doses in 2022. New integrated European vaccine manufacturing network will be built in collaboration with several partners. We believe, that one of them is American EV and clean energy company Tesla, working with CureVac on vaccine RNA printer (version 3 is under development). We see further upside for CureVac shares and expect positive Phase 2a and Phase 2b/3 data of its vaccine candidate CVnCoV together with 90%+ efficacy and opportunity to sell ~100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the European Union this year.

Previous week EU finally approved new contract with the German biotech company CureVac to purchase 225 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and option to buy additional 180 million doses next year. CureVac plans to initiate global Phase 2b/3 clinical trials as soon as possible and is going to expand its manufacturing capacities to 300 million doses in 2021 and 600 million doses in 2022. New integrated European vaccine manufacturing network will be built in collaboration with several partners. We believe, that one of them is American EV and clean energy company Tesla, working with CureVac on vaccine RNA printer (version 3 is under development). We see further upside for CureVac shares and expect positive Phase 2a and Phase 2b/3 data of its vaccine candidate CVnCoV together with 90%+ efficacy and opportunity to sell ~100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the European Union this year.  

CureVac Stock May Surge Another 20-30% Under New Bull-Case Scenario

Financials Credit Analyst

Hank Calenti, CFA

CreditContinuum

Credit

Credit risk markets remained decoupled between the US and Asia as spreads on US Caa-rated entities continued to defy gravity. The risk-on wave continued to swell through US risk asses on additional positive vaccine news. Combined with a Goldilocks election outcome whereby President Trump loses the election, but Joe Biden does not win a mandate, spreads on the US Caa-rated complex tightened to inside Asia’s HY index for the first time since 2014. Is it time to sell the Caa bull market?  Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s decision to cancel several underutilized emergency Fed programs at the end of the year may raise expectations for the Fed to expand its asset purchase program or target its purchases more directly along the Treasury curve at its December meeting. We are set-up for disappointment.  Against this background, Asia’s HY Additional Tier 1 underperformed Subordinated and Senior Unsecured securities as near-term global growth concerns outweighed vaccine progress. Most of the underperforming bond were issued over the last three months. This suggests these may have been issued at the top of the market, in spread terms. Amongst Additional Tier 1 bonds, Hong Kong-headquartered banks led advances. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bank-of-east-asia-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:341:1" rel="noopener">Bank of East Asia's (23 HK)</a> announcement that it would call its 5.5% coupon December-callable AT1 bond aided sentiment. We first recommended that investors overweight this security in mid-February within <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bank-of-east-asia-overweight-short-call-at1-on-refinancing-ability" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:36787" rel="noopener">Bank of East Asia: Overweight Short-Call AT1 on Refinancing Ability</a> and recently re-iterated this call within <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bank-of-east-asia-buy-the-inefficient-capital-securities" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:42753" rel="noopener">Bank of East Asia: Buy the Inefficient Capital Securities</a>. Victory lap over.Concurrently, Turkish HY Senior Unsecured bank bonds again materially outperformed their global peers following delivery of a more orthodox monetary policy regime. Nonetheless, Turkish bank bonds continue to trade wide of similarly rated entities in other emerging markets.  Given the starting point for a potential Turkish bank bond rally, we anticipate a virus versus vaccine market immunity in Turkish-bank bonds returns over the near term.   Over US$13 billion was raised by financial institutions in USD, Euros and Sterling across the credit continuum. Amongst higher-yield issued securities, the UK Co-operative Bank’s Caa1 rated bond makes India’s <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/iifl-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20197:1" rel="noopener">IIFL Finance's (IIFL IN)</a> US$-bond look cheap in comparison. However, unlike India where every bank rescue requires a liability moratorium, the Co-operative Bank resolution three years ago was not damaging to the financial system. India’s rescue of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lakshmi-vilas-bank-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17552:1" rel="noopener">Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB IN)</a> this week is no exception. For our views on this please see: <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/lakshmi-vilas-bank-dbs-rescue-is-a-wasted-option" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:45471" rel="noopener">Lakshmi Vilas Bank: DBS Rescue Is a Wasted Option</a>.US$-debt issuance should be slowed by the upcoming US holiday on Thursday. We could see a short-lived resurgence in early December and then drift sideways until heavy issuance re-emerges in January.Market Outlook: Over the near term, tension between longer-term optimism from vaccine driven economies and the shorter-term reality of increasing Coronavirus lockdowns are likely to weigh on the market in the coming weeks. Positive vaccine news combined with a goldilocks US election outcome lowers the likelihood of excessive US federal stimulus. This should cap additional upward pressure on US Treasury yields until vision increases on likely H2 ’21 US economic growth, post-vaccine distribution. Reflation remains on hold. This could limit US dollar weakness and limit positive impacts on reflationary beneficiaries such as bank valuations and Emerging Markets (EM) assets.

Credit risk markets remained decoupled between the US and Asia as spreads on US Caa-rated entities continued to defy gravity. The risk-on wave continued to swell through US risk asses on additional positive vaccine news. Combined with a Goldilocks election outcome whereby President Trump loses the election, but Joe Biden does not win a mandate, spreads on the US Caa-rated complex tightened to inside Asia’s HY index for the first time since 2014. Is it time to sell the Caa bull market?  Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s decision to cancel several underutilized emergency Fed programs at the end of the year may raise expectations for the Fed to expand its asset purchase program or target its purchases more directly along the Treasury curve at its December meeting. We are set-up for disappointment.  Against this background, Asia’s HY Additional Tier 1 underperformed Subordinated and Senior Unsecured securities as near-term global growth concerns outweighed vaccine progress. Most of the underperforming bond were issued over the last three months. This suggests these may have been issued at the top of the market, in spread terms. Amongst Additional Tier 1 bonds, Hong Kong-headquartered banks led advances. Bank of East Asia's (23 HK) announcement that it would call its 5.5% coupon December-callable AT1 bond aided sentiment. We first recommended that investors overweight this security in mid-February within Bank of East Asia: Overweight Short-Call AT1 on Refinancing Ability and recently re-iterated this call within Bank of East Asia: Buy the Inefficient Capital Securities. Victory lap over.Concurrently, Turkish HY Senior Unsecured bank bonds again materially outperformed their global peers following delivery of a more orthodox monetary policy regime. Nonetheless, Turkish bank bonds continue to trade wide of similarly rated entities in other emerging markets.  Given the starting point for a potential Turkish bank bond rally, we anticipate a virus versus vaccine market immunity in Turkish-bank bonds returns over the near term.   Over US$13 billion was raised by financial institutions in USD, Euros and Sterling across the credit continuum. Amongst higher-yield issued securities, the UK Co-operative Bank’s Caa1 rated bond makes India’s IIFL Finance's (IIFL IN) US$-bond look cheap in comparison. However, unlike India where every bank rescue requires a liability moratorium, the Co-operative Bank resolution three years ago was not damaging to the financial system. India’s rescue of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB IN) this week is no exception. For our views on this please see: Lakshmi Vilas Bank: DBS Rescue Is a Wasted Option.US$-debt issuance should be slowed by the upcoming US holiday on Thursday. We could see a short-lived resurgence in early December and then drift sideways until heavy issuance re-emerges in January.Market Outlook: Over the near term, tension between longer-term optimism from vaccine driven economies and the shorter-term reality of increasing Coronavirus lockdowns are likely to weigh on the market in the coming weeks. Positive vaccine news combined with a goldilocks US election outcome lowers the likelihood of excessive US federal stimulus. This should cap additional upward pressure on US Treasury yields until vision increases on likely H2 ’21 US economic growth, post-vaccine distribution. Reflation remains on hold. This could limit US dollar weakness and limit positive impacts on reflationary beneficiaries such as bank valuations and Emerging Markets (EM) assets.

Bank Credit Weekly: Virus Vs. Vaccine: Time to Sell the Caa-Bull?

Olema Pharmaceuticals Inc / Equity Capital Markets

A clinical-stage biotech company Olema Pharmaceuticals priced its IPO of ~11 million shares at IPO price of $19 a share or IPO valuation of ~$800 million on a fully diluted basis. San Francisco based company develops next generation targeted therapies to treat ER+/HER2- breast cancer and signed collaboration agreements with Novartis and Pfizer to evaluate its lead product candidate OP-1250 in combination with Palbociclib, Alpelisib and Ribociclib. We estimate net proceeds from the offering to reach ~$195 million. Lead underwriters of the deal are J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Cowen and Canaccord Genuity.Olema Pharmaceuticals was backed by investment and venture capital firms BVF Partners L.P., Janus Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management, Logos Capital, RA Capital Management, Wellington Management, Blackrock, Vivo Capital and Venrock. According to Crunchbase, Olema Pharmaceuticals raised ~$145M through multiple equity financing rounds.

A clinical-stage biotech company Olema Pharmaceuticals priced its IPO of ~11 million shares at IPO price of $19 a share or IPO valuation of ~$800 million on a fully diluted basis. San Francisco based company develops next generation targeted therapies to treat ER+/HER2- breast cancer and signed collaboration agreements with Novartis and Pfizer to evaluate its lead product candidate OP-1250 in combination with Palbociclib, Alpelisib and Ribociclib. We estimate net proceeds from the offering to reach ~$195 million. Lead underwriters of the deal are J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Cowen and Canaccord Genuity.Olema Pharmaceuticals was backed by investment and venture capital firms BVF Partners L.P., Janus Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management, Logos Capital, RA Capital Management, Wellington Management, Blackrock, Vivo Capital and Venrock. According to Crunchbase, Olema Pharmaceuticals raised ~$145M through multiple equity financing rounds.

Olema Pharmaceuticals IPO. Raising Capital For Developing Innovative Therapy To Treat Breast Cancer

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.

<div>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/japan-airlines-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1184:1" rel="noopener">Japan Airlines (9201 JP)</a> plans to raise around US$1.4bn in order to shore up its balance sheet and aid its longer term transformation.
 I have covered the background of the deal in my earlier write-up, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-airlines-placement-given-the-uncertain-outlook-might-need-further-correction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan Airlines Placement - Given the Uncertain Outlook, Might Need Further Correction</a>.
</div><div><div id="annotable-executive_summary-2">In this insight, I'll talk about the updates since then.</div></div>


Japan Airlines (9201 JP) plans to raise around US$1.4bn in order to shore up its balance sheet and aid its longer term transformation.
 I have covered the background of the deal in my earlier write-up, Japan Airlines Placement - Given the Uncertain Outlook, Might Need Further Correction.
In this insight, I'll talk about the updates since then.

Japan Airlines Placement - Tricky Tricky, Needs to Correct

United States

Pfizer Inc. is a research-based, global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets medicines for humans and animals.  The Company's products include prescription pharmaceuticals, non-prescription self-medications, and animal health products such as anti-infective medicines and vaccines.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Pfizer Inc (PFE US)

Asian Healthcare - Coming of Age

This Smartkarma Originals Insight highlights 20 leading unlisted healthcare companies in Asia, mainly in digital healthcare and biopharma, that are...

Kemp Dolliver, CFA

CureVac Stock May Surge Another 20-30% Under New Bull-Case Scenario

We see further upside potential for CureVac shares as the probability of success is increasing for its vaccine candidate CVnCoV and key mRNA-based...

Andrei Zakharov

Bank Credit Weekly: Virus Vs. Vaccine: Time to Sell the Caa-Bull?

Is it time to sell the Caa-bull market? Some AT1 bonds seem to be at a market top. We are set-up for disappointment. Nonetheless, we anticipate...

Hank Calenti, CFA

Olema Pharmaceuticals IPO. Raising Capital For Developing Innovative Therapy To Treat Breast Cancer

VC-backed Olema develops novel oral therapy with combined activity of CERAN and SERD to treat ER+ breast cancer, the second-most common cancer...

Andrei Zakharov

Japan Airlines Placement - Tricky Tricky, Needs to Correct

Japan Airlines (9201 JP) plans to raise around US$1.4bn in order to shore up its balance sheet and aid its longer term transformation.

Sumeet Singh

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)