Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Equity Capital Markets

Zhihu Technology / Equity Capital Markets

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<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/zhihu-technology-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32185:1" rel="noopener">Zhihu Technology (ZH US)</a> is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next several weeks. Zhihu has a similar business model as Quora where millions of people ask questions and exchange their views and experiences. Zhihu has become the largest online question and answer community in China. In August 2019, Zhihu received $434 million in funding from leading investors including Baidu and Kuaishou Technology, valuing the company at $3.5 billion.</p>
<p>The company generated a strong sales growth of 101.7% YoY to reach 1,352.2 million RMB in 2020. Operating margins also improved from -157.9% in 2019 to -44.6% in 2020, which was driven by significant improvement in the company's operating leverage. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenue declined from 204.4% in 2019 to 100.6% in 2020. </p>
<p>Paid memberships represented 13.1% of total revenues in 2019, which increased to 23.7% of total revenues in 2020. Average monthly members jumped by 311.5% YoY to 2.36 million in 2020, which is a testament of an increasing number of customers that value the premium contents available on Zhihu. </p>
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Zhihu Technology (ZH US) is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next several weeks. Zhihu has a similar business model as Quora where millions of people ask questions and exchange their views and experiences. Zhihu has become the largest online question and answer community in China. In August 2019, Zhihu received $434 million in funding from leading investors including Baidu and Kuaishou Technology, valuing the company at $3.5 billion.
The company generated a strong sales growth of 101.7% YoY to reach 1,352.2 million RMB in 2020. Operating margins also improved from -157.9% in 2019 to -44.6% in 2020, which was driven by significant improvement in the company's operating leverage. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenue declined from 204.4% in 2019 to 100.6% in 2020. 
Paid memberships represented 13.1% of total revenues in 2019, which increased to 23.7% of total revenues in 2020. Average monthly members jumped by 311.5% YoY to 2.36 million in 2020, which is a testament of an increasing number of customers that value the premium contents available on Zhihu. 



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><p>Bilibili plans to raise around US$3bn in its secondary listing in Hong Kong. </p></div><div><p>We have covered the background of the deal in our earlier notes, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bilibili-secondary-listing-early-look-will-probably-be-more-like-jd-and-netease" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bilibili Secondary Listing Early Look - Will Probably Be More like JD and NetEase</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bilibili-secondary-listing-early-look-4q20-results-quick-note" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bilibili Secondary Listing Early Look - 4Q20 Results Quick Note</a>.</p></div><div><p>In this note, we'll touch upon the updates since our last note.</p></div>

Bilibili plans to raise around US$3bn in its secondary listing in Hong Kong. We have covered the background of the deal in our earlier notes, Bilibili Secondary Listing Early Look - Will Probably Be More like JD and NetEase and Bilibili Secondary Listing Early Look - 4Q20 Results Quick Note.In this note, we'll touch upon the updates since our last note.

Bilibili Secondary Listing - Volatile but Should Be Hot

IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bilibili-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26793:1" rel="noopener">Bilibili Inc (BILI US)</a> is a Chinese online video platform themed around anime, manga, and game fandom and targeted at the young generations in China. Bilibili ranked top five in terms of brand awareness in Gen Z+ users among video-centric platforms in China in 2020, according to iResearch. Bilibili passed its Hong Kong listing committee hearing and could raise up to $3 billion through a secondary listing, according to press reports. </p><p>Bilibili’s focus on Gen Z+ users allows it to benefit from their growing consumption needs in conjunction with their increasing spending power. Bilibili is one of the fastest-growing major Chinese internet companies. The revenue growth is increasingly fuelled by the creation of more consumption scenarios and higher paying user conversion. Largely due to the high growth narrative, Bilibili gets a free pass from investors on the widening losses and FCF burn. Nevertheless, Bilibili’s ambition is to deliver operating leverage and FCF generation over the medium-term, which is reflected in consensus estimates. </p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Overall, Bilibili has made great strides in expanding its user base (Gen Z to Gen Z+) and subsequently monetising this expanded user base through the diversification of its revenue streams and lowering its reliance on key games titles. The top-line metrics are strong, and the bottom-line metrics will likely improve in the medium term, in our view. Overall, we believe that Bilibili is fairly valued at the last close, and would look at any share price weakness to add/build a position. </p></div>

Bilibili Inc (BILI US) is a Chinese online video platform themed around anime, manga, and game fandom and targeted at the young generations in China. Bilibili ranked top five in terms of brand awareness in Gen Z+ users among video-centric platforms in China in 2020, according to iResearch. Bilibili passed its Hong Kong listing committee hearing and could raise up to $3 billion through a secondary listing, according to press reports. Bilibili’s focus on Gen Z+ users allows it to benefit from their growing consumption needs in conjunction with their increasing spending power. Bilibili is one of the fastest-growing major Chinese internet companies. The revenue growth is increasingly fuelled by the creation of more consumption scenarios and higher paying user conversion. Largely due to the high growth narrative, Bilibili gets a free pass from investors on the widening losses and FCF burn. Nevertheless, Bilibili’s ambition is to deliver operating leverage and FCF generation over the medium-term, which is reflected in consensus estimates. Overall, Bilibili has made great strides in expanding its user base (Gen Z to Gen Z+) and subsequently monetising this expanded user base through the diversification of its revenue streams and lowering its reliance on key games titles. The top-line metrics are strong, and the bottom-line metrics will likely improve in the medium term, in our view. Overall, we believe that Bilibili is fairly valued at the last close, and would look at any share price weakness to add/build a position. 

Bilibili Secondary Listing: A Big-Sum Game

<div><p>Bairong, an independent AI-powered technology platform in China serving the financial services industry, plans to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO. According to F&amp;S, it was the largest independent financial big data analytics solutions provider in China by revenue in 2019, with a market share of 8.7%.</p></div><div><p>Over 2017-19, Bairong’s revenue expanded by 3.56x or at 88.8% CAGR. While its data analytics revenue increased by 66% over the period, its precision marketing services revenue grew 22.6x, and insurance distribution grew 54.5x. Over the same time, gross profit grew 3.99x and adjusted EBITDA, PAT and OCF all turned positive during that period.</p></div><div><p>We have various aspects of the deal in our earlier notes, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bairong-pre-ipo-the-positives-largest-independent-big-data-analytics-provider" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bairong Pre-IPO - The Positives - Largest Independent Big-Data Analytics Provider ,</a> <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bairong-pre-ipo-the-negatives-playing-with-its-own-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bairong Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Playing with Its Own Data</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/bairong-pre-ipo-earnings-forecast-peer-comparison-and-valuation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bairong Pre-IPO - Earnings Forecast, Peer Comparison and Valuation</a>.</p></div><div><p>In this note, we will talk about the updates from its recently filed PHIP.</p></div>

Bairong, an independent AI-powered technology platform in China serving the financial services industry, plans to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO. According to F&amp;S, it was the largest independent financial big data analytics solutions provider in China by revenue in 2019, with a market share of 8.7%.Over 2017-19, Bairong’s revenue expanded by 3.56x or at 88.8% CAGR. While its data analytics revenue increased by 66% over the period, its precision marketing services revenue grew 22.6x, and insurance distribution grew 54.5x. Over the same time, gross profit grew 3.99x and adjusted EBITDA, PAT and OCF all turned positive during that period.We have various aspects of the deal in our earlier notes, Bairong Pre-IPO - The Positives - Largest Independent Big-Data Analytics Provider , Bairong Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Playing with Its Own Data and Bairong Pre-IPO - Earnings Forecast, Peer Comparison and Valuation.In this note, we will talk about the updates from its recently filed PHIP.

Bairong Pre-IPO - PHIP and Valuation Updates - Better 4Q20, but Client Data Isn’t as Encouraging

Event-Driven

<div><p>On 22nd March 2018, after market close in Hong Kong one of the largest overnight placements was launched. On that day, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/naspers-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21085:1" rel="noopener">Naspers (NPN SJ)</a> reluctantly sold US$10bn worth of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a> shares.  <span>I say reluctantly because Naspers provided a three year lock-up at the time of the deal. That lock-up will expire next week. </span></p></div><div><p>We have covered the previous placement in our earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tencent-placement-huge-deal-in-size-small-in-relative-terms-succumbing-to-the-holdco-discount" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tencent Placement - Huge Deal in Size, Small in Relative Terms - Succumbing to the HoldCo Discount</a> and spoken about the implications of the lock-up expiry in our Feb 2021 note <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tencent-placement-lock-up-expiry-us-10bn-block-and-buyback-linked-holdco-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tencent Placement Lock-Up Expiry - US$10bn+ Block and Buyback Linked Holdco Trade</a>.</p></div><div><p>In this note, I’ll talk about the updates since then.</p></div>

On 22nd March 2018, after market close in Hong Kong one of the largest overnight placements was launched. On that day, Naspers (NPN SJ) reluctantly sold US$10bn worth of Tencent Holdings (700 HK) shares.  I say reluctantly because Naspers provided a three year lock-up at the time of the deal. That lock-up will expire next week. We have covered the previous placement in our earlier note, Tencent Placement - Huge Deal in Size, Small in Relative Terms - Succumbing to the HoldCo Discount and spoken about the implications of the lock-up expiry in our Feb 2021 note Tencent Placement Lock-Up Expiry - US$10bn+ Block and Buyback Linked Holdco Trade.In this note, I’ll talk about the updates since then.

Tencent Placement Lock-Up Expiry -  Block and Buyback Linked Holdco Trade Update

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)

Zhihu IPO Preview - China's Quora

Zhihu is getting ready to complete an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks. Zhihu is China's version of Quora. Zhihu's sales...

Douglas Kim

Bilibili Secondary Listing - Volatile but Should Be Hot

Bilibili plans to raise around US$3bn in its secondary listing in Hong Kong. We have covered the background of the deal in our earlier notes. In...

Sumeet Singh

Bilibili Secondary Listing: A Big-Sum Game

Bilibili could raise up to $3 bn through a secondary listing, according to press reports. It is fairly valued at the last close and would look at...

Arun George

Bairong Pre-IPO - PHIP and Valuation Updates - Better 4Q20, but Client Data Isn’t as Encouraging

Bairong, an independent AI-powered technology platform in China serving the financial services industry, plans to raise around US$500m in its HK...

Sumeet Singh

Tencent Placement Lock-Up Expiry - Block and Buyback Linked Holdco Trade Update

On 22nd March 2018, in Hong Kong one of the largest overnight placements was launched. On that day, Naspers sold US$10bn worth of Tencent shares....

Sumeet Singh

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