SamE Common/1P price ratio gap is again above +100% of σ on a 20D MA in favor of Common. Deepening concerns about memory chip price hammered both SamE and Hynix yesterday. But SamE 1P couldn’t capitalize. 1P fell even further, almost reaching 120D high in Common/1P price ratio in favor of Common.
We’ve recently heard rebounding demand for memory chips. This has pushed up both SamE and Hynix lately. Improving fundamentals coupled with the March AGM cycle factor have consistently supported SamE Common/1P price ratio above +0.5σ on a 20D MA since late Jan. This optimism is now facing a serious challenge probably for the first time since late last year.
Opinions are still heavily divided on memory chip business outlook. The concerns reignited by the falling price news would be here with us in the coming few weeks at least. This’d outweigh even the March AGM factor. 1P starts placing itself ahead of Common. I’d go long 1P and short Common now. I’d hold onto the position until -150~200% of σ. This is a 5~6% yield.
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SamE Common/1P price ratio gap is again above +100% of σ on a 20D MA in favor of Common. Deepening concerns about memory chip price hammered both SamE and Hynix yesterday. But SamE 1P couldn’t capitalize. 1P fell even further, almost reaching 120D high in Common/1P price ratio in favor of Common.
We’ve recently heard rebounding demand for memory chips. This has pushed up both SamE and Hynix lately. Improving fundamentals coupled with the March AGM cycle factor have consistently supported SamE Common/1P price ratio above +0.5σ on a 20D MA since late Jan. This optimism is now facing a serious challenge probably for the first time since late last year.
Opinions are still heavily divided on memory chip business outlook. The concerns reignited by the falling price news would be here with us in the coming few weeks at least. This’d outweigh even the March AGM factor. 1P starts placing itself ahead of Common. I’d go long 1P and short Common now. I’d hold onto the position until -150~200% of σ. This is a 5~6% yield.
Merck KGaA (MRK GY), the German pharmaceutical and chemical company, gatecrashed the Entegris Inc (ENTG US) merger with Versum Materials (VSM US) the morning of February 27, 2019, with the announcement of a $48 per share cash acquisition proposal that was presented to Versum’s board of directors that same day. Versum, which was spun out of Air Products & Chemicals, Inc (APD US) in 2016, is a global provider of solutions (Materials and Delivery Systems and Services) to the semiconductor and display industries.
On January 28, 2019, a day after the WSJ broke the story that Versum and Entegris were in talks, the companies announced a $9 billion (combined value) merger of equals whereby each VSM share would receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.12 ENTG shares, resulting in VSM holders owning 47.5% of the combined company and ENTG holders owning the other 52.5%. The deal was well received with both companies’ shares climbing steadily since the announcement.
However, these best laid plans took a Teutonic turn when the other Merck (Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceuticals and chemicals group unaffiliated with Merck & Co Inc. (MRK US) of the USA) threw its hat in the ring.
According to Merck, its Executive Board unanimously approved its proposal and is fully committed to pursuing the transaction. Merck said it is prepared to proceed immediately to due diligence and negotiations and to quickly agree to a merger agreement. It further stated the completion of the offer will be subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of necessary regulatory clearances.
The $48 per share proposed price is a 51.7% premium over VSM’s January 25, 2019 share price just prior to the announcement of the Versum/Entegris merger and a 15.9% premium over VSM’s closing price on February 26, 2019.
The ball is now in the VSM board of directors’ court and below we’ll look at how the board might react and where the chips may fall.
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SamE Common/1P price ratio gap is again above +100% of σ on a 20D MA in favor of Common. Deepening concerns about memory chip price hammered both SamE and Hynix yesterday. But SamE 1P couldn’t capitalize. 1P fell even further, almost reaching 120D high in Common/1P price ratio in favor of Common.
We’ve recently heard rebounding demand for memory chips. This has pushed up both SamE and Hynix lately. Improving fundamentals coupled with the March AGM cycle factor have consistently supported SamE Common/1P price ratio above +0.5σ on a 20D MA since late Jan. This optimism is now facing a serious challenge probably for the first time since late last year.
Opinions are still heavily divided on memory chip business outlook. The concerns reignited by the falling price news would be here with us in the coming few weeks at least. This’d outweigh even the March AGM factor. 1P starts placing itself ahead of Common. I’d go long 1P and short Common now. I’d hold onto the position until -150~200% of σ. This is a 5~6% yield.
Merck KGaA (MRK GY), the German pharmaceutical and chemical company, gatecrashed the Entegris Inc (ENTG US) merger with Versum Materials (VSM US) the morning of February 27, 2019, with the announcement of a $48 per share cash acquisition proposal that was presented to Versum’s board of directors that same day. Versum, which was spun out of Air Products & Chemicals, Inc (APD US) in 2016, is a global provider of solutions (Materials and Delivery Systems and Services) to the semiconductor and display industries.
On January 28, 2019, a day after the WSJ broke the story that Versum and Entegris were in talks, the companies announced a $9 billion (combined value) merger of equals whereby each VSM share would receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.12 ENTG shares, resulting in VSM holders owning 47.5% of the combined company and ENTG holders owning the other 52.5%. The deal was well received with both companies’ shares climbing steadily since the announcement.
However, these best laid plans took a Teutonic turn when the other Merck (Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceuticals and chemicals group unaffiliated with Merck & Co Inc. (MRK US) of the USA) threw its hat in the ring.
According to Merck, its Executive Board unanimously approved its proposal and is fully committed to pursuing the transaction. Merck said it is prepared to proceed immediately to due diligence and negotiations and to quickly agree to a merger agreement. It further stated the completion of the offer will be subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of necessary regulatory clearances.
The $48 per share proposed price is a 51.7% premium over VSM’s January 25, 2019 share price just prior to the announcement of the Versum/Entegris merger and a 15.9% premium over VSM’s closing price on February 26, 2019.
The ball is now in the VSM board of directors’ court and below we’ll look at how the board might react and where the chips may fall.
This insight is a kind of public service announcement for investors looking at the Panalpina Welttransport Holding (PWTN SW) situation as it might affect the likely upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting that the Ernst Göhner Foundation requested of Panalpina, and to which Panalpina has acquiesced. The agenda item of the EGM requested is to implement a “One Share One Vote” system.
Activist Cevian has come out against the proposal by the Ernst Göhner Foundation. This sounds counterintuitive except for one odd legal angle.
The Foundation’s ostensible goal is to ensure that the vote is “fair” so that Cevian and Artisan Partners can vote their full stake after having been capped at 5% for many years because of Article 5 in the Panalpina Articles of Association. The more cunning aspect of this is that, as per the Panalpina announcement…
In a letter addressed to Panalpina’s Board of Directors, minority shareholder Cevian had recently questioned the practice to fully admit EGF with all its voting rights at the Company’s shareholders’ meetings. Cevian took the position that the voting restriction of 5% must be applied to all shareholders and, hence the voting power of EGF must be reduced to 5%. An ad hoc board of independent directors (BoiD) consisting of five directors (without representatives of EGF and Cevian) and chaired by Thomas E. Kern, is currently evaluating the situation based on expert opinions submitted by each of EGF and Cevian and based on independent expert advice obtained by the BoiD.
The Foundation knows that their position may be legally weak, and their position could be capped at 5% rather than grandfathered. Indeed, the “independent expert advice” obtained by Cevian includes the opinions of “four leading Swiss stockbrokers” who had come to the conclusion that the Foundation had been unlawfully excluded from the 5% cap, according to this Reuters article on the 26th. The company states that the Ernst Göhner Foundation is and has been exempted from this rule because of “grandfathering” because it owned the shares before the implementation of the rule, but there is nothing in the Articles of Association which grants the EGF that exemption. The full Cevian press releases in English and German are available through their spokesperson and are attached below (at the bottom of the insight).
Another Reuters article discussed the situation, with quotes from Cevian, and added this tidbit at the end.
An ad hoc board of independent directors consisting of five directors, without representatives of EGF and Cevian…will review the proposal and decide how the voting on it will take place at the extraordinary general meeting,” spokeswoman Edna Ayme-Yahil said.
Investors should note…..
The last paragraph of Article 5 of the Panalpina Articles of Association says “No entries shall be made in the register of shareholders following the dispatch of the convocation to the Shareholders’ Meeting until the day after the Shareholders’ Meeting.” This is a little different than is the case for many large Swiss companies where they give the convocation and investors may subsequently register their shares.
For Novartis AG (NOVN SW), which held its AGM today (28 Feb 2019), the deadline for registering shares was 3 days prior to the AGM as shown on p6 in the Organizational Notes on the AGM Notice.
Temenos Group Ag (TEMN SW) last year set their registration deadline 13 days ahead of the AGM, which is further away, but the Convocation Notice had been sent 47 days before the AGM.
In Panalpina’s case, if you are not registered by the time the company sends out the convocation, there is no requirement for the company to admit your shares to the register even if there is plenty of time to do so (though the Board can make exceptions to the entry restriction).
For investors interested in or concerned about the situation, there are measures which may be advisable to implement ASAP to ensure you can vote.
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SamE Common/1P price ratio gap is again above +100% of σ on a 20D MA in favor of Common. Deepening concerns about memory chip price hammered both SamE and Hynix yesterday. But SamE 1P couldn’t capitalize. 1P fell even further, almost reaching 120D high in Common/1P price ratio in favor of Common.
We’ve recently heard rebounding demand for memory chips. This has pushed up both SamE and Hynix lately. Improving fundamentals coupled with the March AGM cycle factor have consistently supported SamE Common/1P price ratio above +0.5σ on a 20D MA since late Jan. This optimism is now facing a serious challenge probably for the first time since late last year.
Opinions are still heavily divided on memory chip business outlook. The concerns reignited by the falling price news would be here with us in the coming few weeks at least. This’d outweigh even the March AGM factor. 1P starts placing itself ahead of Common. I’d go long 1P and short Common now. I’d hold onto the position until -150~200% of σ. This is a 5~6% yield.
Merck KGaA (MRK GY), the German pharmaceutical and chemical company, gatecrashed the Entegris Inc (ENTG US) merger with Versum Materials (VSM US) the morning of February 27, 2019, with the announcement of a $48 per share cash acquisition proposal that was presented to Versum’s board of directors that same day. Versum, which was spun out of Air Products & Chemicals, Inc (APD US) in 2016, is a global provider of solutions (Materials and Delivery Systems and Services) to the semiconductor and display industries.
On January 28, 2019, a day after the WSJ broke the story that Versum and Entegris were in talks, the companies announced a $9 billion (combined value) merger of equals whereby each VSM share would receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.12 ENTG shares, resulting in VSM holders owning 47.5% of the combined company and ENTG holders owning the other 52.5%. The deal was well received with both companies’ shares climbing steadily since the announcement.
However, these best laid plans took a Teutonic turn when the other Merck (Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceuticals and chemicals group unaffiliated with Merck & Co Inc. (MRK US) of the USA) threw its hat in the ring.
According to Merck, its Executive Board unanimously approved its proposal and is fully committed to pursuing the transaction. Merck said it is prepared to proceed immediately to due diligence and negotiations and to quickly agree to a merger agreement. It further stated the completion of the offer will be subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of necessary regulatory clearances.
The $48 per share proposed price is a 51.7% premium over VSM’s January 25, 2019 share price just prior to the announcement of the Versum/Entegris merger and a 15.9% premium over VSM’s closing price on February 26, 2019.
The ball is now in the VSM board of directors’ court and below we’ll look at how the board might react and where the chips may fall.
This insight is a kind of public service announcement for investors looking at the Panalpina Welttransport Holding (PWTN SW) situation as it might affect the likely upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting that the Ernst Göhner Foundation requested of Panalpina, and to which Panalpina has acquiesced. The agenda item of the EGM requested is to implement a “One Share One Vote” system.
Activist Cevian has come out against the proposal by the Ernst Göhner Foundation. This sounds counterintuitive except for one odd legal angle.
The Foundation’s ostensible goal is to ensure that the vote is “fair” so that Cevian and Artisan Partners can vote their full stake after having been capped at 5% for many years because of Article 5 in the Panalpina Articles of Association. The more cunning aspect of this is that, as per the Panalpina announcement…
In a letter addressed to Panalpina’s Board of Directors, minority shareholder Cevian had recently questioned the practice to fully admit EGF with all its voting rights at the Company’s shareholders’ meetings. Cevian took the position that the voting restriction of 5% must be applied to all shareholders and, hence the voting power of EGF must be reduced to 5%. An ad hoc board of independent directors (BoiD) consisting of five directors (without representatives of EGF and Cevian) and chaired by Thomas E. Kern, is currently evaluating the situation based on expert opinions submitted by each of EGF and Cevian and based on independent expert advice obtained by the BoiD.
The Foundation knows that their position may be legally weak, and their position could be capped at 5% rather than grandfathered. Indeed, the “independent expert advice” obtained by Cevian includes the opinions of “four leading Swiss stockbrokers” who had come to the conclusion that the Foundation had been unlawfully excluded from the 5% cap, according to this Reuters article on the 26th. The company states that the Ernst Göhner Foundation is and has been exempted from this rule because of “grandfathering” because it owned the shares before the implementation of the rule, but there is nothing in the Articles of Association which grants the EGF that exemption. The full Cevian press releases in English and German are available through their spokesperson and are attached below (at the bottom of the insight).
Another Reuters article discussed the situation, with quotes from Cevian, and added this tidbit at the end.
An ad hoc board of independent directors consisting of five directors, without representatives of EGF and Cevian…will review the proposal and decide how the voting on it will take place at the extraordinary general meeting,” spokeswoman Edna Ayme-Yahil said.
Investors should note…..
The last paragraph of Article 5 of the Panalpina Articles of Association says “No entries shall be made in the register of shareholders following the dispatch of the convocation to the Shareholders’ Meeting until the day after the Shareholders’ Meeting.” This is a little different than is the case for many large Swiss companies where they give the convocation and investors may subsequently register their shares.
For Novartis AG (NOVN SW), which held its AGM today (28 Feb 2019), the deadline for registering shares was 3 days prior to the AGM as shown on p6 in the Organizational Notes on the AGM Notice.
Temenos Group Ag (TEMN SW) last year set their registration deadline 13 days ahead of the AGM, which is further away, but the Convocation Notice had been sent 47 days before the AGM.
In Panalpina’s case, if you are not registered by the time the company sends out the convocation, there is no requirement for the company to admit your shares to the register even if there is plenty of time to do so (though the Board can make exceptions to the entry restriction).
For investors interested in or concerned about the situation, there are measures which may be advisable to implement ASAP to ensure you can vote.
Descente Ltd (8114 JP) has been in the press quite a bit in recent days with management commentary about how the company and directors disagree with the Tender Offer launched by Itochu Corp (8001 JP) to raise their stake from 30% to 40% and how it could lead to conflict of interest and worsening management, lower morale for employees, and a loss of independence.
Management, former management, and former employees have all joined the party. Wednesday saw a significant sell-down of shares to a post-Tender Offer low, but it was not clear why.
Descente had, on the 26th, noted in a puff piece in the Nikkei that it would move up the release of its next Mid-Term (Three Year) Plan (normally due in May this year), and it would focus on growing direct sales in China through more stores, growing sales in the US through adding products to the list (currently the major product in North America is skiwear), selling LeCoq Sportif in Indonesia and Munsingwear in Vietnam. WHEN is unknown, but the explicit goal is to encourage shareholders to keep their shares rather than tender them to Itochu.
Today saw a new filing from Itochu in which it amended its original announcement, claimed Descente’s activity in the media was additional and additive to the Target Company Position Statement filed on 7 February, and for that reason, their activity had not been appropriately disclosed to shareholders. Furthermore, Itochu noted that while the jibber-jabber had been going on the last two-plus weeks, Descente had asked Itochu to negotiate post-Tender management structure plans, and Itochu had agreed. Itochu and Descente talked for 9 days from 11-20 Feb but Descente was bad-mouthing Itochu in the press at the same time. That induced Itochu to stop talks. And late today, the Nikkei has released a 27 February interview with the CEO of ANTA, Itochu’s longtime textile partner in China and a 6.86% holder of Descente shares, where he says that he supports Itochu’s tender offer, will not sell their shares in Descente, and would support Itochu efforts to restructure management.
These three new developments change things in interesting ways, in my opinion pushing Descente’s own plans closer to Itochu’s, and introducing the possibility of significantly more hostility to come, with a much higher likelihood Itochu can win the proxy wars to come.
In-depth analysis below the fold.
Previous insights on the situation and its runup are listed below.
Recent Insights on the Descente/Wacoal and Itochu/Descente Situations on Smartkarma
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Today, the shares go ex-rights for shareholders looking to both vote on March 26th and, assuming the vote goes through, to elect to receive cash of IDR 9,590 instead of continuing to hold shares. BDMN shares are trading down, as expected.
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Today, the shares go ex-rights for shareholders looking to both vote on March 26th and, assuming the vote goes through, to elect to receive cash of IDR 9,590 instead of continuing to hold shares. BDMN shares are trading down, as expected.
Ruralco Holdings (RHL AU)has announced it has entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed in which Nutrien Ltd (NTR CN) has agreed to take Ruralco private at $4.40/share – a 44% premium to last close and the one-month VWAP. The Offer values Ruralco at A$469mn and an enterprise value of $615mn.
A fully franked special dividend of A$0.90 will reduce the Scheme consideration. An interim dividend of A$0.10 will be added.
The Scheme is subject to shareholder approval, and approval from the ACCC and FIRB. Previous commentary bv ACCC’s Rod Sims would indicate this regulatory approval will not be an issue.
Ruralco’s directors unanimously recommend the Offer in the absence of a superior proposal and a favourable independent expert opinion.
Concerning shareholder reception to the Scheme, Ruralco’s CEO Travis Dillon said “The feedback we’ve had … with all stakeholders, but including our shareholders (has been) overwhelmingly positive.“
This is a pretty clean deal and the gross/annualised spread of 1.4%/4.1%, assuming late June completion, reflects this.
A counter offer from Elders Ltd (ELD AU) cannot be ruled out. But given its comparative size, Nutrien would be the likely winner in such a scrap, potentially reducing the likelihood of Elders making an offer.
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Today, the shares go ex-rights for shareholders looking to both vote on March 26th and, assuming the vote goes through, to elect to receive cash of IDR 9,590 instead of continuing to hold shares. BDMN shares are trading down, as expected.
Ruralco Holdings (RHL AU)has announced it has entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed in which Nutrien Ltd (NTR CN) has agreed to take Ruralco private at $4.40/share – a 44% premium to last close and the one-month VWAP. The Offer values Ruralco at A$469mn and an enterprise value of $615mn.
A fully franked special dividend of A$0.90 will reduce the Scheme consideration. An interim dividend of A$0.10 will be added.
The Scheme is subject to shareholder approval, and approval from the ACCC and FIRB. Previous commentary bv ACCC’s Rod Sims would indicate this regulatory approval will not be an issue.
Ruralco’s directors unanimously recommend the Offer in the absence of a superior proposal and a favourable independent expert opinion.
Concerning shareholder reception to the Scheme, Ruralco’s CEO Travis Dillon said “The feedback we’ve had … with all stakeholders, but including our shareholders (has been) overwhelmingly positive.“
This is a pretty clean deal and the gross/annualised spread of 1.4%/4.1%, assuming late June completion, reflects this.
A counter offer from Elders Ltd (ELD AU) cannot be ruled out. But given its comparative size, Nutrien would be the likely winner in such a scrap, potentially reducing the likelihood of Elders making an offer.
In a surprising move, it was reported after the market close today that Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) (market cap of US$804 billion) and Comcast (US$176 billion) will enter the race and have submitted initial bids to acquire Nexon Co Ltd (3659 JP)/NXC Corp.
The entrance of Amazon and Comcast is a major positive surprise and it should have a strong positive impact on Nexon’s share price. Prior to the entrance of Amazon and Comcast in this M&A battle, the market was firmly leaning towards the consortium including Tencent, Netmarble Games, and MBK Partners to acquire NXC Corp/Nexon.
Now, Amazon and Comcast’s entrance into this M&A battle has made it a lot more exciting and uncertain. Nexon Co Ltd (3659 JP)‘s share price is up 19% YTD but its share price trend has been flattening out in February. In the next few weeks, we expect further boost to Nexon’s share price (15%+), mainly because a lot more investors will think that the Tencent consortium, Amazon, and Comcast will try to pay higher price to acquire NXC Corp/Nexon. Kudos to Nexon shareholders!
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Today, the shares go ex-rights for shareholders looking to both vote on March 26th and, assuming the vote goes through, to elect to receive cash of IDR 9,590 instead of continuing to hold shares. BDMN shares are trading down, as expected.
Ruralco Holdings (RHL AU)has announced it has entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed in which Nutrien Ltd (NTR CN) has agreed to take Ruralco private at $4.40/share – a 44% premium to last close and the one-month VWAP. The Offer values Ruralco at A$469mn and an enterprise value of $615mn.
A fully franked special dividend of A$0.90 will reduce the Scheme consideration. An interim dividend of A$0.10 will be added.
The Scheme is subject to shareholder approval, and approval from the ACCC and FIRB. Previous commentary bv ACCC’s Rod Sims would indicate this regulatory approval will not be an issue.
Ruralco’s directors unanimously recommend the Offer in the absence of a superior proposal and a favourable independent expert opinion.
Concerning shareholder reception to the Scheme, Ruralco’s CEO Travis Dillon said “The feedback we’ve had … with all stakeholders, but including our shareholders (has been) overwhelmingly positive.“
This is a pretty clean deal and the gross/annualised spread of 1.4%/4.1%, assuming late June completion, reflects this.
A counter offer from Elders Ltd (ELD AU) cannot be ruled out. But given its comparative size, Nutrien would be the likely winner in such a scrap, potentially reducing the likelihood of Elders making an offer.
In a surprising move, it was reported after the market close today that Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) (market cap of US$804 billion) and Comcast (US$176 billion) will enter the race and have submitted initial bids to acquire Nexon Co Ltd (3659 JP)/NXC Corp.
The entrance of Amazon and Comcast is a major positive surprise and it should have a strong positive impact on Nexon’s share price. Prior to the entrance of Amazon and Comcast in this M&A battle, the market was firmly leaning towards the consortium including Tencent, Netmarble Games, and MBK Partners to acquire NXC Corp/Nexon.
Now, Amazon and Comcast’s entrance into this M&A battle has made it a lot more exciting and uncertain. Nexon Co Ltd (3659 JP)‘s share price is up 19% YTD but its share price trend has been flattening out in February. In the next few weeks, we expect further boost to Nexon’s share price (15%+), mainly because a lot more investors will think that the Tencent consortium, Amazon, and Comcast will try to pay higher price to acquire NXC Corp/Nexon. Kudos to Nexon shareholders!
In this report, we provide the one year share price comparisons of the holdcos and the opcos in both table and chart formats as well as changes to the foreign ownership stakes of these companies YTD. Significant, rapid changes to the foreign shareholdings of these companies sometimes lead to opportunities in the holdco/opco pair trades.
Among these 30 pair of companies, five pairs in particular are interesting where the difference in their share prices have diverged significantly in the past year (by 30% or more). These five pairs of companies include the following:
Hyosung Corp vs. Hyosung Advanced Materials
BGF Retail vs. BGF Co.
Doosan Corp vs. Doosan Heavy Industries Corp.
Cuckoo Holdings vs. Cuckoo Homesys
Orion Holdings vs. Orion Corp
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SOE State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) is seeking to privatise China Power New Energy Development Co (735 HK) by way of a Scheme at $5.45/share, a 41.9% premium to last close and a 78.1% premium to the 30-day average.
A scrip alternative (6 New shares for one Scheme shares) into an unlisted vehicle under SPIC is also available.
China Three Gorges, CPNED’s largest shareholder with 27.10%, have given an irrevocable undertaking to vote for the Scheme and to elect the share alternative.
However, China Three Gorges is presumably required to abstain from voting at the court meeting, as it is deemed to be acting in concert with the SPIC under class (1) of the definition of the acting in concert in the Takeovers Code. The announcement does not make this clear.
Assuming China Three Gorges does abstain, a 10% blocking stake at the court meeting is equivalent to 4.48% of shares out or 53mn shares.
This looks like a pretty clean deal. It is priced above the highest close since its listing by way of introduction on the 18 July 2017, while the excitement over the potential injection of all nuclear power assets and businesses from State Nuclear Power Technology Company has been removed after the restructuring was cancelled in July last year.
The stock is currently trading at an attractive gross/annualised spread of 8.3%/28.9% conservatively assuming a late July completion, and inclusive of the final dividend.
In December (13 Dec after trading hours), the FT had an article noting that Germany’s leading property classifieds firm Scout24 AG (G24 GR) (also known for auto classifieds across Europe) was possibly looking to sell itself and that PE firms were lining up to bid. Silver Lake, which had bought British player ZPG (which operates property portals Zoopla and PrimeLocation) for $2.8bn in July 2018, was mentioned as a bidder. Once owned by Deutsche Telekom, control of Scout24 was sold to Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman LLC in 2013-14 (H&F spent €1.5 billion to take a 70% stake in 2013, and Blackstone bought a stake of undisclosed size in 2014), and they listed the company in 2015 with an initial market cap of €3.2 billion. The IPO was €1.16 billion and both sold down, with H&F fully exiting in a placement in 2016.
The share price had been doing well until Q3 last year when German lawmakers, anxious with skyrocketing property prices, started looking at revamping the structure of real estate transaction costs so that they were borne by sellers rather than loaded onto buyers. The shares fell.
source: investing.com
A combination of Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman LLC launched an non-LBO LBO for Scout24 AG (G24 GR) in mid-January at €43.50/share (€4.7 billion) which was about an 8% premium to the then-current market price, which had already been juiced because of speculation starting after the FT article in late December. The company rejected the Offer saying it was too low.
The two buyers came back in mid-February with a Takeover Offer priced at €46.00/share, 5.7% higher than January’s foray and 27% higher than the level pre-FT article; that was about 25x earnings and 28x 2019e cashflow, which is a bit lower than Silver Lake’s ZPG buy multiple. Both Scout24’s Management Board and Supervisory Board agreed to support the offer and said they believed that the transaction is in the best interest of the Company, and an Investment Agreement was signed between the three companies.
The unusual thing about this deal is that the two PE firms are looking to buy a minimum of 50% plus one share, and leave the company listed. The shares jumped to €46 and have been trading at just below to slightly through, leaving many to think that this was a setup for a strategic buyer or possibly Silver Lake to come in over the top.
The New News
Yesterday, the BidCo officially launched its Tender Offer at €46, due to run through 9th May.
Denso Corp (6902 JP) announced this month that it has invested in the Seattle-based connected vehicle services pioneer- Airbiquity Inc. Airbiquity is one of the leading companies in the connected vehicle services sector and has been one of the companies that has continuously developed automotive telematics technology. This investment made by Denso follows its investment made in Quadric.io this year ( Stake in Quadric.io Following Renesas; Denso Attempts to Keep Chip Makers Close to Achieve AD Aims). As we previously mentioned, Denso is in full swing in its development in the autonomous driving field and next-generation technologies development. Thus, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Denso emerge as the first mover in next-generation technologies such as AD and connectivity solutions. According to Denso, its investment worth $5m in Airbiquity is expected to accelerate the development of over-the-air (OTA) systems for wirelessly updating automotive software from a remote location. OTA systems are methods of distributing new software, configuration settings, and providing updates to the electronic device in use, for instance, a car navigation system in a vehicle. These OTA systems which have been increasingly used to update the software of such multimedia products in a vehicle are now gaining more prominence given the emergence of next-generation technologies such as electrification, EV and connectivity. We also believe that Denso’s Stake in Airbiquity is likely to accelerate Denso’s transition in its business model to be a leading software solution provider. Thus, its series of investments such as in Tohoku Pioneer EG, JOLED, ThinCI, Quadric, and now Airbiquity are indicative of the decisiveness of its change in business model and moves towards achieving next-generation technology leadership.
When IPH Ltd (IPH AU) gate-crashed Xenith Ip (XIP AU)/Qantm Intellectual Property (QIP AU)‘s marriage of equals, submitting a scheme proposal comprising cash (A$1.28) and IPH shares (0.1056 IPH shares) or A$1.97/share, versus QANTM’s all-cash offer (1.22 QANTM), the key risk to IPH’s Offer was ACCC opposing its Offer. As announced today, ACCC will not oppose.
This decision was largely expected and previously discussed here. Although IPH, QANTM, and Xenith are the only three ASX-listed intellectual property companies, privately owned companies collectively hold a larger market share – and growing – compared to the three listcos. The ACCC agrees and signed off on an IPH/XIP tie-up as it did on the 21 March, by not opposing the merger of XIP and QANTM.
XIP acknowledged the ACCC decision resolves a major uncertainty, but stops short of supporting IPH’s offer as there still exists a number of concerns as detailed in its 19 March announcement. IPH responded to those concerns on the 20 March. These include:
Shareholders of Xenith will hold an immaterial % of the merged IPH entity compared to QANTM.
IPH’s scrip portion accounted for (then) 35% of its Offer (now ~37%), shares which have superior liquidity versus QANTM given IPH’s position in the ASX200.
The cash portion also provides added certainty on value into the Offer compared to QANTM’s all scrip offer.
The control premium as at 11 March is insufficient.
Probably the most contentious concern. QANTM’s all-scrip offer on the 27 November backed out an indicative offer price of $1.598/share or a 28.4% premium to last close.
IPH’s $1.97/share indicative offer (a 60% premium to XIP’s undisturbed price, and a 31% premium to the independent expert’s mid-point fair value (page 55)) compared to QANTM’s indicative offer of $2.03 immediately before IPH’s announcement.
Circumstances have changed materially since, with IPH’s cash/scrip offer now worth $2.02 as I type, versus $1.67 for QANTM.
Source: CapIQ
The increased execution risk concerning ACCC. Now a non-issue.
It is questionable whether employees, controlling 40% of Xenith, would support the offer.
Employees are free to decide on what they consider to be the most compelling Offer. IPH has offered to hold discussions with XIP employees.
CGT rollover will likely be lower via the large cash element under IPH’s offer vs. QANTM’s all scrip offer.
Maybe. Possibly. An all-scrip offer typically affords greater rollover relief. Nevertheless, Xenith is trading below its 2015 IPO price of $2.72/share.
With IPH’s 19.9% blocking stake, the QANTM/Xenith scheme is a non-starter. Xenith still should engage with IPH. The scheme meeting to decide on the QANTM Offer is scheduled for the 3 April.
Six weeks ago I wrote that Nissan’s governance outlook was “Foggy Now, Sunny Later.” I said “Governance changes are afoot, with a steady flow of developments likely coming in March, April, May, and June.”
The last couple of months have seen numerous media articles about the process of Nissan Motor (7201 JP) and Renault SA (RNO FP) rebuilding their relationship. There have been visits to Tokyo by Renault’s new chairman of the board of directors Jean-Dominique Senard, and visits to Paris and Amsterdam by the CEOs of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors (7211 JP).
There have been many suggestions in French and European newspapers in the interim that Jean-Dominique Senard would be the obvious choice as a representative director of Nissan. There have been other articles out there in the Japanese press suggesting what conclusions the committee might come to as to what outcomes should result. The difference is notable. The French side still wants control. The Japanese/Nissan/committee side sees the need to fix governance.
Today there was a report in the FT suggesting that Renault “wants” to restart merger talks with Nissan and “aims to restart merger talks with Nissan within 12 months.” It should be noted that these two sentences are not exactly the same. It may still be that France wants Renault to do so, and therefore Renault aims to do so. The same article revealed past talks on Renault merging with FCA but France putting a stop to it and a current desire to acquire another automaker – perhaps FCA – after dealing with Nissan.
Also today, the long-awaited Nissan Special Committee for Improving Governance (SCIG) report was released. It outlines some of the issues of governance which existed under Ghosn- both the ones which got him the boot, and the structural governance issues which were “discovered” after he got the boot.
There are clear patches in the fog. Two things shine through immediately.
Governance weaknesses under Ghosn were inexcusably bad. Worse than previously reported.
The recommendations to the board now are, on the whole, pretty decent. Some are sine qua non changes – formation of nomination and compensation committees, whistleblower reporting to the audit committee and not the CEO, and greater checks and balances. Some are stronger in terms of the independence of Nissan from Renault: the committee recommends a majority of independent board members, an independent chairman, and no representative directors from Renault, Mitsubishi, or principal shareholders.
There are, however, other issues which were not addressed, which for Nissan’s sake probably should be addressed. Yesterday was a first step on what will be a 3-month procession of news about the way Nissan will address the SCIG report’s recommendations, the process by which it will choose new directors when it does not have an official nomination committee, and the AGM in June to propose and confirm new directors. Then they will start their jobs in July.
The fog looks to lift slowly. And one may anticipate some better weather beyond. But business concerns remain a threat, and while relations appear to be getting better after the departure of Carlos Ghosn and the arrival of Jean-Dominique Senard, it is not clear that a Franco-Japanese storm is not brewing in the distance.
More below.
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As well expected, DHICO was heavily shorted yesterday, ex-rights day. We had a heavy buying movement by short-term arb traders at both local and foreign on DHICO right before ex-rights. As shown in the second table, yesterday’s shorting was mostly done by short-term traders again both local and foreign alike.
These early arb traders had presumably bought DHICO shares at ₩8,076 on Mar 25~26. They then disposed shares at ₩6,974 yesterday. They then shorted the same amount of shares additionally at ₩6,983. As a result, at ceiling price ₩5,550 their yield is virtually fixed at 4.10%. If the offering price goes down to the bottom of ₩5,000 which is a very high possibility at this point, their yield will go up as high as 10.91%.
For those who haven’t made early moves, there are now two options to play this event. You can either trade now and hope that subscription right price won’t hit breaking price level or wait until Apr 19~25 subscription rights period for a perfectly risk-free entry point. At the current price ₩6,800, breaking price for subscription rights is still at a comfortable level. That is, I’d make trades right now by shorting DHICO shares.
→ DHICO price just got down nearly 3%. At this reduced price, below are updated numbers for late arb traders’ arb yield. To me, it still seems we won’t be in a losing position if we make trades now. But we’d better hurry up.
Merck KGaA (MRK GR) took off the gloves yesterday in its pursuit of Versum Materials (VSM US) , announcing and launching an unsolicited, fully financed $48 per share cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of VSM. Merck also announced the filing of its definitive proxy materials with the SEC for solicitation of proxies of VSM shareholder against the VSM/Entegris Inc (ENTG US) merger, which is scheduled to be voted on at a special shareholder meeting on April 26th, 2019.
Along with its press release announcing the offer yesterday, Merck also published its second open letter to Versum shareholders underscoring its commitment to complete the acquisition of the Company. This follows Merck’s presentation to VSM shareholders published on March 14, 2019.
The tender offer is scheduled to expire on 5pm, New York City time on June 7, 2019.
Have you ever wondered how a company secures the Chinese lucky number “8” as their ticker in Hong Kong? I’ll explain later on, but let’s just say that being the son of Li Ka Shing helps.
Li Ka Shing is a name that hardly needs introduction in Hong Kong and Richard Li, Li Ka Shing’s youngest son and Chairman of PCCW Ltd (8 HK), follows suit. After being born into Hong Kong’s richest family, Richard Li was educated in the US where he worked various odd jobs at McDonald’s and as a caddy at a local golf course before enrolling at Menlo College and eventually withdrawing without a degree. As fate would have it, Mr. Li went on to set up STAR TV, Asia’s satellite-delivered cable TV service, at the tender age of 24. Three years after starting STAR TV, Richard Li sold the venture, which had amassed a viewer base of 45 million people, to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWS AU) for USD 1 billion in 1993. During the same year, Mr. Li founded the Pacific Century Group and began a streak of noteworthy acquisitions.
You may be starting to wonder what all of this has to do with a trade on PCCW Ltd (8 HK) and I don’t blame you. In the rest of this insight I will:
finish the historical overview of the Li family and PCCW
present my trade idea and rationale
give a detailed overview of the business units of PCCW and the associated performance of each
recap ALL of my stub trades on Smartkarma and the performance of each
It was announced on March 26th after market close that the Korea National Pension Service (NPS) will vote against the re-election of the Cho Yang-Ho as a Director of Korean Air Lines (003490 KS). The final results will become available today when the AGM of Korean Air is completed (AGM starts at 9AM). This has been one of the most anticipated AGMs in Korea, since there is a good chance that Chairman Cho will not be re-elected. Chairman Cho needs at least 2/3 of the participating shareholders’ approval in order to be re-elected.
Foreigners currently own a 24.77% stake in Korean Air, up significantly from 20.61% as of end of 2018. This increase of 4.1% stake represents $128 million. The increase in ownership by the foreigners is a good sign since it suggests that many hedge funds and long-only institutional investors think that finally the tides have turned and Chairman Cho may need to step down from his position in the BOD.
In our view, if Chairman Cho is finally defeated in this AGM, this should have a definite positive impact on Korean Air’s share price. In the near term, we think Korean Air Lines (003490 KS)‘s share price could shoot up by nearly 20% and retest the previous resistance level at around 39,000 won.
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