Daily Brief Financials: Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Thai Credit Bank PCL, Mandala Multifinance, Newmark Property REIT, Nexus Mutual, iShares iBoxx High Yield Corpo, FinLab AG, Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB d, Bakkt, Sun Hung Kai Properties and more

• Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT SP) aims to raise around US$152m in order to partly fund its purchase of an additional stake in NEX mall.
• The company had purchased its initial stake in the property nearly a year ago.
• In this note, we comment on the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.

• Thai Credit Bank PCL (3674238Z TB) is looking to raise up to US$281m in its Thailand IPO.
• TCB is a commercial bank that focuses on providing business loans to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), nano loans and micro credits to merchants, and home loans for individual customers.
• In this note, we will look at the updates since, undertake a quick peer comparison, and share our thoughts on valuation.

• On the 26th June 2023, MUFG (8306 JP) and 92.7%-held Adira Dinamika (ADMF IJ) entered into SPAs with key shareholders to acquire an 80.6% stake in Mandala Multifinance (MFIN IJ).
• Although not explicit in various company announcements, MUFG/Adira are paying an estimated IDR 3,297/share. The SPAs are subject to regulatory approvals, primarily Indonesia’s OJK.
• An EGM for MFIN’s shareholders has now been tabled for 13th Feb to vote on this change of control. Presumably, you wouldn’t progress to the EGM without OJK’s conditional approval. 

• BWP Trust (BWP AU), the owner of  75 properties (mostly Bunnings Warehouses), will merge with smaller landlord Newmark Property REIT (NPR AU), whose tenants also include Bunnings.
• Via an off-market transaction, BWP is offering NPR unitholders 0.4 new BWP units for every NPR unit held, for an implied Offer price of $1.36/unit, a 43.1% premium to undisturbed.
• The key condition is a 50.1% tendering threshold. 18.3% of NPR have given an irrevocable. This looks done; although NPR was listed at A$1.89/unit a little over two years ago.

• In our 2023 thematic outlook, we highlighted that on-chain insurance is a DeFi sub-sector that remains underdeveloped.
• Today, DeFi has largely covered the services offered by TradFi, such as payments, lending and exchanges; as well as central, commercial and investment banking services.
• There is also DeFi insurance (or more accurately termed as ‘DeFi cover,’ since the solutions provided are more discretionary than contractual; and may not be regulated), but presently it is not being offered as extensively as traditional insurance

• The podcast will feature an anonymous source who will be disguised and have their voice altered, similar to investigative shows.
• The guest, known as high yield Harry, runs social media accounts and a newsletter where they chronicle events in the credit markets.
• The discussion will focus on the credit markets, investor demand, the impact of higher interest rates, and the players involved in making loans and deals.

This podcast is sourced from an online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only.

Heliad Equity Partners (HEP) and FinLab completed their merger in Q423. Heliad, the new combined entity, has seen positive developments across its three largest holdings recently. flatexDEGIRO, while still affected by the low trading activity across the market, in Q323 generated its highest quarterly EBITDA since the meme stock hype in 2021. Raisin has shown sustained strong growth in assets under management (AUM) and last year crossed the €50bn mark. Finally, Enpal more than doubled its revenue to €900m in 2023. All three are profitable and the value of Heliad’s stakes in these companies more than covers its current market cap and net liabilities. Heliad recently invested in AI21 Labs, which develops proprietary text-generating AI technology. Heliad’s shares are now available at a 48% discount to the last reported NAV.

• Banorte delivered a strong close to 2023, with ROE of close to 22% for the group, efficiency ratio of under 40%, healthy core capital adequacy and a low delinquency ratio
• There were few amber warnings in the 4Q 2023 figures, with the exception of non-interest costs, especially those relating to IT and digital banking capex, and slightly on funding costs
• Management’s 2024 guidance is, in our view, optimistic; we see potential erosion of the net interest margin, structurally higher opex – due mainly to digital competition – and worsening delinquency

• In its continuing push in international markets, Bakkt announced on January 24 that it activated its crypto capabilities in several new international markets in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America with existing clients Hapi and SogoTrade.
• Bakkt crypto trading is now live in Hong Kong and Singapore with SogoTrade.
• Bakkt is excited about its entry into these markets given the rapid growth in their crypto economies. 

• The data in this insight is collated from the “shareholding disclosure” link on the HKEx website.
• Often there is a corresponding HKEx announcement on the increase – or decrease – in the shareholding by directors. Or pledging. However, such disclosures are by no means an absolute.
• The key stocks mentioned in this regular insight are Sun Hung Kai Properties (16 HK), Wuxi Biologics (2269 HK), Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharm (6990 HK), and Wisdom Sports (1661 HK).