Daily Brief Energy/Materials: Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF, Breaker Resources Nl, S&P 500, Mincor Resources NL, Growatt Technology, ABM Investama, United States Brent Oil Fund, BHP Group Ltd, Trigon Metals and more

• LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI will remain in the index as top stocks of pack makers, respectively. Ecopro BM will almost certainly replace L&F in the category of Cathode.
• SK IE Technology will newly join the index with Separator’s top stock. On the other hand, Lotte Energy Materials and SKC are unlikely to be included.
• This event can be a critical inflection point in predicting the counter-flow for short positions against Ecopro BM and L&F in advance.

• On the 20 March, gold play Breaker Resources Nl (BRB AU) announced a Offer from Ramelius Resources (RMS AU) of 1 RMS for every 2.82 BRB shares. 
• The all-scrip takeover Offer backs out an implied Offer price of A$0.403/share or a 38.9% premium to last close.
• The Offer is conditional on 50.1% tendering with 19.92% of shares out supportive. The first close is the 1 May. 

• On 3/21/23 we discussed the potential for a 2-5% rally to the 1.5-month downtrend on the SPX, or the 4165-4200 range, which would set up an opportunity to get defensive.
• The S&P 500 has gained 4.5% since, but has reversed topside the downtrend, putting a test of 4165-4200 in play.
• We still believe 4165-4200 will cap upside in 2023 — with a reach to 4300-4325 also possible — but considering limited upside, we recommend shifting toward defensives.

• Mincor Resources NL (MCR AU)’s Board has unanimously recommended Wyloo’s unconditional off-market takeover bid at A$1.40 per share. The offer price is final. 
• The Board has taken the path of least resistance by recommending the offer instead of rejecting the low-balled offer and addressing the production quality issues.
• The offer is attractive in terms of multiples (EV/Resource and EV/Reserve) but at a discount to recent share prices and analyst price targets. Shares are trading in line with terms.

• Growatt is a distributed energy solution provider with the #1 market share for PV inverters and energy storage inverters, allowing them strong potential to benefit from a growing market.
• The company has filed for an IPO on the HKEx with a placeholder value of US$1bn and following the lapse of its application, has refiled for an IPO.
• In this follow-up insight, we have highlighted and discussed some of the key new data points from the company’s latest IPO filing document which contains full-year 2022 results.

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.

• A surprise OPEC cut has sent oil prices higher, a surprise cut could leave the SPR depleted.
• An oil surge could see lower growth and a return to inflation, an oil surge.
• A return toflation could be seen in the future, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy.

• BHP Group Limited’s recent drawdown presents a lucrative opportunity for investors seeking to lower their portfolio cost basis.
• BHP’s exploration pipeline and planned pivot out of coal might add volume to its stock’s valuation.
• BHP is yet to realize the benefits of higher base metals prices.

• Trigon is cashed up (~$C34M) to initiate and ramp production 5x from FY24 to FY27. We are expecting $31M in operating cash flow in FY25
• Tier-1 copper camp in the making; 500 Blbs of copper found on just 4.2km of the 35km strike. Significant exploration upside still exists and cashflow from operations will allow TM to explore without dilution
• TM is trading at just 0.2x NAV compared to copper producing peers at 0.7x NAV