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

Shanghai MicroPort MedBot Group / Equity Capital Markets

<div><p>MicroPort MedBot (MM), a surgical robot company, aims to raise up to US$1bn in its Hong Kong IPO. It is a subsidiary of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/microport-scientific-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4487:1" rel="noopener">Microport Scientific (853 HK)</a> and is backed by Hillhouse and other  mainly domestic investors.</p></div><div><p>MicroPort MedBot (MM) is a surgical robot company which designs, develops and commercializes surgical robots to assist surgeons in performing complex surgical procedures. It is the only company with a product portfolio covering the five major and fast-growing surgical specialties of laparoscopic, orthopedic, panvascular, natural orifice and percutaneous surgical procedures, as per Frost &amp; Sullivan (F&amp;S).</p></div><div><p>Its flagship products, Toumai Laparoscopic Surgical Robot, DFVision 3D Electronic Laparoscope and Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot, have all been admitted to the NMPA’s Green Path. Toumai and Honghu are at or near the registration approval stage, and DFVision has recently received NMPA approval.</p></div><p>We have looked at the company’s background and products in our earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/microport-medbot-pre-ipo-robodoc-pre-revenue-has-a-large-competitor-but-a-large-market-as-well" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MicroPort MedBot Pre-IPO - RoboDoc - pre-revenue, has a large competitor but a large market as well</a>. </p><p>In this note, we will talk about the PHIP updates and look at the performance of its largest competitor.</p>

MicroPort MedBot (MM), a surgical robot company, aims to raise up to US$1bn in its Hong Kong IPO. It is a subsidiary of Microport Scientific (853 HK) and is backed by Hillhouse and other  mainly domestic investors.MicroPort MedBot (MM) is a surgical robot company which designs, develops and commercializes surgical robots to assist surgeons in performing complex surgical procedures. It is the only company with a product portfolio covering the five major and fast-growing surgical specialties of laparoscopic, orthopedic, panvascular, natural orifice and percutaneous surgical procedures, as per Frost &amp; Sullivan (F&amp;S).Its flagship products, Toumai Laparoscopic Surgical Robot, DFVision 3D Electronic Laparoscope and Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot, have all been admitted to the NMPA’s Green Path. Toumai and Honghu are at or near the registration approval stage, and DFVision has recently received NMPA approval.We have looked at the company’s background and products in our earlier note, MicroPort MedBot Pre-IPO - RoboDoc - pre-revenue, has a large competitor but a large market as well. In this note, we will talk about the PHIP updates and look at the performance of its largest competitor.

MicroPort MedBot Pre-IPO - RoboDoc - PHIP Updates and a Look at Its Largest Competitor

APAC IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Clarence Chu

APAC IPOs & Placements

Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank / Equity Capital Markets

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/dongguan-rural-commercial-bank" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:34248:1" rel="noopener">Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank (9889 HK)</a> raised US$1.14bn at HKD7.92 per share, at the bottom-end of its IPO price range.</p><p>Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank (DRCB) is the fifth largest rural commercial bank in China by total assets as of Dec 2020, as per China Banking Association in 2021. </p><p>At the indicated price. valuation is expensive as DRCB comes in at 8.1x FY22E P/E and 0.79x FY22E P/B, well ahead of its peer set. Given our underlying assumptions, the bank needs to trade 65% lower or 49.2% lower (excluding China Everbright and China Minsheng) to trade inline with peers.</p><p>Our previous coverage of the IPO:</p><ul><li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/dongguan-rural-commercial-bank-ipo-mind-the-valuation-gap" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:57797" rel="noopener">Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank IPO - Mind the Valuation Gap</a> </li></ul>

Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank (9889 HK) raised US$1.14bn at HKD7.92 per share, at the bottom-end of its IPO price range.Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank (DRCB) is the fifth largest rural commercial bank in China by total assets as of Dec 2020, as per China Banking Association in 2021. At the indicated price. valuation is expensive as DRCB comes in at 8.1x FY22E P/E and 0.79x FY22E P/B, well ahead of its peer set. Given our underlying assumptions, the bank needs to trade 65% lower or 49.2% lower (excluding China Everbright and China Minsheng) to trade inline with peers.Our previous coverage of the IPO:
Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank IPO - Mind the Valuation Gap 

Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank IPO Trading -Needs to Correct at Least 50% to Trade Inline with Peers

<div><p>TDCX Inc, a Singapore-headquartered digital customer experience (CX) provider, is looking to raise up to US$338m in its upcoming US IPO.</p></div><div><p>TDCX provides outsourcing services to clients in new economy sectors and traditional blue-chip clients undergoing digital transformation. As of Jun 21, it served 43 global clients and with 114 active campaigns. The firm has offices located in 10 geographies across Asia, Europe and Latin America, namely, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, Spain, India, Columbia and Romania.</p></div><div><p>TDCX has recorded very strong growth with revenue, EBITDA and PAT having increased by 2.5x over FY18-20. In addition, Facebook and Airbnb, combined, contributed 60.4% and 62.3% of TDCX’s total revenue for FY20 and 1H21. </p></div><div><p>We have covered various aspects of the deal in our earlier note <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tdcx-inc-pre-ipo-tearsheet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TDCX Inc. Pre-IPO Tearsheet</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tdcx-inc-pre-ipo-past-growth-looks-good-the-rest-is-iffy-including-the-founders-s-325m-payout" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TDCX Inc. Pre-IPO - Past Growth Looks Good, the Rest Is Iffy, Including the Founders S$325m Payout</a>.</p></div><div><p>In this note we will talk about valuations</p></div>

TDCX Inc, a Singapore-headquartered digital customer experience (CX) provider, is looking to raise up to US$338m in its upcoming US IPO.TDCX provides outsourcing services to clients in new economy sectors and traditional blue-chip clients undergoing digital transformation. As of Jun 21, it served 43 global clients and with 114 active campaigns. The firm has offices located in 10 geographies across Asia, Europe and Latin America, namely, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, Spain, India, Columbia and Romania.TDCX has recorded very strong growth with revenue, EBITDA and PAT having increased by 2.5x over FY18-20. In addition, Facebook and Airbnb, combined, contributed 60.4% and 62.3% of TDCX’s total revenue for FY20 and 1H21. We have covered various aspects of the deal in our earlier note TDCX Inc. Pre-IPO Tearsheet and TDCX Inc. Pre-IPO - Past Growth Looks Good, the Rest Is Iffy, Including the Founders S$325m Payout.In this note we will talk about valuations

TDCX Inc. Pre-IPO - Largest Client Is Growing Faster and Trading Cheaper

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<p>Over 50% of allocations are in the US with the bulk of the remainder split between Japan, China &amp; HK and the major European nations.  The EMEA overweight is comprised mainly of the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany, with active managers running underweights in the US, China &amp; HK, Australia and Japan.</p><p>UK allocations hover around their lowest levels in history, though managers remain stubbornly overweight compared to the MSCI AC World index.  A total of 62% of managers are overweight the UK at an average +1.88% above benchmark.  Global Value investors are approaching their largest ever overweight in UK stocks of 3.64% above benchmark.</p><p>Another month, another slump in Japan exposure.  Average weights in Japan stand at an all-time low of 5.06% with 85.5% of funds exposed (another low). <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sony-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:563:1" rel="noopener">Sony Corp (6758 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kddi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:639:1" rel="noopener">KDDI Corp (9433 JP)</a> are the most widely held stocks, with 23% and 21% of funds holding a position.</p><p>Tech exposure is at record highs, though this is matched by a record underweight of -0.47%.  Indeed, the percentage of funds who are overweight technology has fallen to below 50% for the first time since the end of 2018, a sign that Global managers are tilting their portfolios away from Tech.</p><p>German Industrials allocations have hit a 4-year high as more Global investors add exposure to the sector. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/deutsche-post-ag" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21608:1" rel="noopener">Deutsche Post AG (DPW GR)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/siemens-ag" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21713:1" rel="noopener">Siemens AG (SIE GR)</a> were the key stocks behind the move, with 4.2% and 2.4% of funds adding exposure over the last 6-months.</p><p>Alibaba has seen closures by some of the larger holders in our analysis, led by American Funds Capital World Fund (-$1.1bn) and New Economy Fund (-$451m).  Though closures have dominated, selected funds have opened exposure during this period of volatility, including Invesco's Global Focus Fund and Liontrust's Global Income Fund.</p>

Over 50% of allocations are in the US with the bulk of the remainder split between Japan, China &amp; HK and the major European nations.  The EMEA overweight is comprised mainly of the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany, with active managers running underweights in the US, China &amp; HK, Australia and Japan.UK allocations hover around their lowest levels in history, though managers remain stubbornly overweight compared to the MSCI AC World index.  A total of 62% of managers are overweight the UK at an average +1.88% above benchmark.  Global Value investors are approaching their largest ever overweight in UK stocks of 3.64% above benchmark.Another month, another slump in Japan exposure.  Average weights in Japan stand at an all-time low of 5.06% with 85.5% of funds exposed (another low). Sony Corp (6758 JP) and KDDI Corp (9433 JP) are the most widely held stocks, with 23% and 21% of funds holding a position.Tech exposure is at record highs, though this is matched by a record underweight of -0.47%.  Indeed, the percentage of funds who are overweight technology has fallen to below 50% for the first time since the end of 2018, a sign that Global managers are tilting their portfolios away from Tech.German Industrials allocations have hit a 4-year high as more Global investors add exposure to the sector. Deutsche Post AG (DPW GR) and Siemens AG (SIE GR) were the key stocks behind the move, with 4.2% and 2.4% of funds adding exposure over the last 6-months.Alibaba has seen closures by some of the larger holders in our analysis, led by American Funds Capital World Fund (-$1.1bn) and New Economy Fund (-$451m).  Though closures have dominated, selected funds have opened exposure during this period of volatility, including Invesco's Global Focus Fund and Liontrust's Global Income Fund.

Global Fund Positioning Update:  Japan Lows, US Highs, UK Value Rotation, Tencent & Alibaba Exit

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

iClick Interactive Asia Group / Event-Driven

<p>In recent years,  it has become common practice for Chinese "tech" companies listed in the US to be privatised, on the expectation of being relisted on the Mainland (where often higher multiples are assigned) or Hong Kong. Following the passing of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holding_Foreign_Companies_Accountable_Act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act</a> last year, there is an added impetus to take these companies private. Or at the very least, seek a dual listing in Hong Kong.</p>
<p>More often than not, these takeovers are initiated by the controlling shareholders. Which makes this latest non-binding proposal for <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/iclick-interactive-asia-group-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27314:1" rel="noopener">iClick Interactive Asia Group (ICLK US)</a> a little unusual.</p>
<p>iClick <a href="https://ir.i-click.com/2021-09-24-iClick-Interactive-Asia-Group-Limited-Announces-Receipt-of-a-Preliminary-Non-Binding-Indicative-Proposal-to-Acquire-the-Company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on the 24 September it had received a preliminary indicative proposal from PAG Pegasus Fund and Oasis Management to acquire all of its outstanding shares for US$6.75 per ADS, in cash.</p>
<p>That's a 19% premium to last close, yet 63% below its all-time high close of US$18.30 in February last year, and 16% below its $8/share IPO price in December 2018.</p>
<p>Should a firm Offer unfold, this long-form merger would require two-thirds majority approval from all shareholders.</p>
<p>Sammy Hsieh, the chairman of the board of directors and co-founder, Jian Tang, iClick's CEO, and co-founder, collectively own 4,385,078 Class B ordinary shares, which due to their super-voting rights, is equivalent to ~62% of the voting power. This proposal is a non-starter without the support of either Hsieh or Tang.</p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baozun" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29712:1" rel="noopener">Baozun (9991 HK)</a> controls a further 10% of the voting power. Should all three side with the buyer consortium, this deal is done. </p>
<p>But I doubt this will be the outcome. A more likely scenario is the consortium's low-balled Offer is a means to triggering a response from a key player, such as <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent (700 HK)</a>, to make a counteroffer.</p>
<p>More below the fold.</p>

In recent years,  it has become common practice for Chinese "tech" companies listed in the US to be privatised, on the expectation of being relisted on the Mainland (where often higher multiples are assigned) or Hong Kong. Following the passing of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act last year, there is an added impetus to take these companies private. Or at the very least, seek a dual listing in Hong Kong.
More often than not, these takeovers are initiated by the controlling shareholders. Which makes this latest non-binding proposal for iClick Interactive Asia Group (ICLK US) a little unusual.
iClick announced on the 24 September it had received a preliminary indicative proposal from PAG Pegasus Fund and Oasis Management to acquire all of its outstanding shares for US$6.75 per ADS, in cash.
That's a 19% premium to last close, yet 63% below its all-time high close of US$18.30 in February last year, and 16% below its $8/share IPO price in December 2018.
Should a firm Offer unfold, this long-form merger would require two-thirds majority approval from all shareholders.
Sammy Hsieh, the chairman of the board of directors and co-founder, Jian Tang, iClick's CEO, and co-founder, collectively own 4,385,078 Class B ordinary shares, which due to their super-voting rights, is equivalent to ~62% of the voting power. This proposal is a non-starter without the support of either Hsieh or Tang.
In addition, Baozun (9991 HK) controls a further 10% of the voting power. Should all three side with the buyer consortium, this deal is done. 
But I doubt this will be the outcome. A more likely scenario is the consortium's low-balled Offer is a means to triggering a response from a key player, such as Tencent (700 HK), to make a counteroffer.
More below the fold.

IClick(ICLK US): PAG & Oasis Shake The Trees

China

Tencent Holdings Limited operates as an investment holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides Internet and mobile value-added services (VAS), online advertising, and e-commerce transactions. Tencent Holdings offers services to users worldwide.

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Tencent Holdings (ADR) (TCEHY US)

MicroPort MedBot Pre-IPO - RoboDoc - PHIP Updates and a Look at Its Largest Competitor

MicroPort MedBot, a surgical robot company, aims to raise up to US$1bn in its Hong Kong IPO. It is a subsidiary of Microport Scientific (853 HK)...

Sumeet Singh

Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank IPO Trading -Needs to Correct at Least 50% to Trade Inline with Peers

Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank (9889 HK) raised US$1.14bn at HKD7.92 per share, at the bottom-end of its IPO price range.

Clarence Chu

TDCX Inc. Pre-IPO - Largest Client Is Growing Faster and Trading Cheaper

TDCX Inc, a Singapore-headquartered digital customer experience (CX) provider, is looking to raise up to US$338m in its upcoming US IPO.

Sumeet Singh

Global Fund Positioning Update: Japan Lows, US Highs, UK Value Rotation, Tencent & Alibaba Exit

A detailed look at investor positioning among 380 active Global strategies, covering the major themes in country, sector and stock exposure.

Steven Holden

IClick(ICLK US): PAG & Oasis Shake The Trees

Buying around here is probably going to have limited downside. I think PAG/Oasis' intent is to shake out potential suitors - including the co...

David Blennerhassett

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