India

• India-based KreditBee has added another US$100 million to its series D, with primary funding from equity investor Advent International.

• Founded in 2018 by Madhusudan Ekambaram, Karthikeyan Krishnaswamy, and Wan Hong, the startup offers tech-enabled personal loans to working professionals.
• KreditBee finances the loan through partnerships with banks and non-bank financial companies.

• Survival Technologies (1279515D IN) is looking to raise around US$121m in its upcoming India IPO. The deal will be run by JM Financial, and ICICI Securities.
• Survival Technology (ST) is a contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) focused speciality chemical manufacturer in India.
• As per CRISIL, the firm is one of the leading CRAMS companies in India in terms of manufacturing of select chemical products as of Mar 22.

• We interacted with channels associated with SKF India Ltd (SKF IN) , Schaeffler India (SCHFL IN) & Schneider Electric Infrastructure (SCHN IN).
• Sector tailwinds, market share gain ability and changing consumer preferences are all working in place for growth ahead.  
• SCHFL stands out in terms of growth and margins, SCHN’s channel feedback and recent performance in encouraging.

• SBFC Finance Limited (SBFC123 IN) plans to come up with INR 16 bn IPO which comprises INR 7.5 bn worth of fresh issue.
• The company is MSME focused NBFC-ND-SI, and has shown attractive growth in AUM, disbursements in the last few years. SBFC also offers loans against gold.
• However, there are a few perils that must not be overlooked, such as lack of provisioning, low NII growth, mixed peer positioning, and few governance setbacks.

• Bharat Highways InVIT (BHINV IN) is looking to raise about US$242m in its upcoming India IPO. The deal will be run by ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HDFC Bank and IIFL Securities.
• Bharat Highways InVIT is an infrastructure investment trust established to acquire, manage and invest in a portfolio of infrastructure assets in India. 
• The InVIT’s initial asset portfolio will consist of seven road assets, in the states of Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh with an aggregate length of approximately 497.292km. 

• Honasa Consumer (1652951D IN) is looking to raise about US$350m in its upcoming India IPO. The deal will be run by Kotak, Citibank, JM Financial and JP Morgan.
• Honasa Consumer is the largest digital-first beauty and personal care (BPC) company in India in terms of revenue for FY22 (Year ended 31st Mar 2022) according to RedSeer. 
• Honasa Consumer’s product portfolio includes products in the baby care, face care, body care, hair care, color cosmetics and fragrances segments. 

The Asia Monthly focuses on providing updates on recent events, information on new issues and spread movements, as well as summarising our top picks. The Asia Monthly is intended to broaden investors’ understanding of the Asian USD high-yield market.

Lucror Analytics Weekly Wraps provide an overview of all Morning Views comments and reports published by our analyst team in the past week, and also showcase a list of the most-read reports.

In this Insight:

1. Fosun International
2. Lippo Karawaci
3. Agile Property Holdings
4. China Jinmao Holdings
5. Lifestyle International Holdings

and more…

• Bajaj Finance Ltd (BAF IN) reported key performance metrics for Q3FY23. AUM growth came in weak with incremental AUM addition at just 12,500cr vs 14,700cr YoY. 
• QoQ, the AUM growth looks decent at 5.5%+, however, given that the Q3FY23 was a festive season quarter, QoQ comparison is not as relevant.
• However, BAF did a good job on customer acquisition. It acquired 3.1mm new customers (highest ever quarterly increase) vs 2.56mm YoY, a growth of 21%+.

• Vikram Solar (0490158D IN) is looking to raise around US$260m in its upcoming India IPO. 
• Vikram Solar (VS) is an integrated solar photo-voltaic (PV) modules producer and an integrated solar energy solutions provider.
• As per CRISIL, it was one of India’s largest module manufacturers and held a 19% domestic market share, as per operational module capacity.

We view JSW Steel as “Low Risk” on the LARA scale. The company has demonstrated a strong and resilient track record throughout the cycle. JSW’s large and growing scale, with increasing vertical integration, partly offsets the industry’s cyclicality as well as JSW’s aggressive expansion plan and acquisitions. The group has weathered the challenging operating environment well, despite a sharp slowdown in the Indian economy in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the company’s improving vertical integration (in terms of captive iron ore and coal supplies) has reduced exposure to supply and price volatility for raw materials. We note positively the Indian government’s continued willingness to support the domestic steel market, which has partly offset cheap exports from steel-surplus countries (e.g. China, Russia, South Korea and Japan). We also view favourably JSW’s position as the largest player in the Indian market, with a low cost base. The company has managed to turn around Bhushan Power & Steel, which had been acquired in bankruptcy court proceedings.

Our fundamental Credit Bias is “Negative”, due to the sharp deterioration in the operating environment. This was in turn driven by high coking coal prices and increased energy costs.

Controversies are “Immaterial”. While JSW has faced some issues (e.g. villagers’ protests against plants or controversial land sales by local governments to the company), such events are immaterial and quite common in India. The ESG Impact on Credit is “Neutral”. The metals & mining industry is exposed to regulatory and geopolitical risks, and the nature of the extraction process places JSW under scrutiny from environmental agencies and investors. However, the company has managed these well, considering the significant ESG efforts it has made.

• A third of the way through the review period of the June rebalance, we see one potential index change with Adani Enterprises (ADE IN) replacing Wipro Ltd (WPRO IN). 
• Adani Enterprises (ADE IN) could move lower in the short-term due to the public issue of shares but should find support from passive buying from local and global index trackers.
• Wipro Ltd (WPRO IN) has underperformed most of its peers by a wide margin over the last year and the passive selling could provide an entry point.

• We expect 5 changes to the Nifty 100 Index (NSE100 INDEX) at the March rebalance. The review period ends on 31 January and the announcement should be late February.
• The largest impact of passive trading will be on Page Industries (PAG IN), Biocon Ltd (BIOS IN), Mphasis Ltd (MPHL IN) and ABB India Ltd (ABB IN). 
• There are quite a few overlaps with the AMFI reclassification of stocks and there could be buying and selling from active fund managers over the next few weeks.

• The competitive position and demand environment for Eicher Motors (EIM IN)‘s “Classic 350” remains intact. 
• The recent launch “Hunter 350” is expanding markets by taking on the competition.
• Cannablisation fears from Hunter 350, remain unfounded, and unlikely to have any major impact on margin trajectory. 

• Radiant Cash Management Services (1926794D IN) has come up with INR 3.9 bn IPO which includes fresh issue to the tune of INR 600 mn.
• In spite of being one of the largest players in the retail cash management segment, there are few cautions one must take note of.
• These primarily include related party transactions with promoters, concentration risk and few industry related restraints

• BigBasket, an India-based online grocery player owned by conglomerate Tata Sons, has raised US$200 million at a US$3.2 billion valuation, the platform’s co-founder and CEO Hari Menon told Tech in Asia.
• Founded from a small office in Bengaluru in 2011 by Menon and four other partners, V S Sudhakar, Vipul Parek, Abhinay Choudhari, and V S Ramesh, BigBasket was acquired by Tata Sons through its subsidiary Tata Digital in 2021.
• Largely focusing on online grocery, BigBasket has also expanded to quick commerce via BB Now and subscription-based service via BB Daily.