Daily Brief Financials: Great Eastern Holdings, Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd, Bajaj Finance Ltd, Belstar Microfinance Ltd, Longfor Properties, JDC Group AG, Pioneer Credit and more

• Great Eastern Holdings (GE SP) has consistently traded through OCBC (OCBC SP)‘s Offer terms from the onset. 
• OCBC did not declare its S$25.60 cash Offer final. And someone appears to be accumulating a stake to block an Exit/Delisting Offer, presumably towards negotiating a bump in terms.
• But what happens if GE’s free float falls <10% at the close of the Offer and GE is suspended? And OCBC has no intention of restoring the float?

• Aadhar Housing Finance(AHF) raised around US$360m in its India IPO, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares.
• AHF is focused on the low income housing segments (ticket size less than INR1.5m) in India. It offers a range of mortgage-related loan products.
• We have looked at the company’s performance and valuation in our past notes. In this note, we talk about the trading dynamics.

• BAF reported a decent Q4FY24 led by strong AUM growth and robust customer acquisition. Adjusted for the impact of the regulatory ban, Q4FY24 results were in line with the expectation.  
• The biggest negative surprise in Q4FY24 was the 21bp NIM compression. NIM compressed led by AUM composition shifting incrementally to secured assets. 
• BAF is optimistic on growth across segments, except Rural B2C where risk metrics are somewhat elevated; however this should normalize, given Rural B2B is doing fine.

• Belstar Microfinance Ltd (3624918Z IN) is looking to raise US$156m in its upcoming India IPO. The bookrunners on the deal are ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HDFC Bank, SBI Capital Markets.
• Belstar Microfinance (Belstar) is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) in India with a focus on furnishing micro-enterprise loans.
• As per the CRISIL report, the firm was the ninth largest NBFC – Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI) in terms of assets under management (AUM) as of Dec 2023.

Lucror Analytics Morning Views comprise our fundamental credit analysis, opinions and trade recommendations on high yield issuers in the region, based on key company-specific developments in the past 24 hours. Our Morning Views include a section with a brief market commentary, key market indicators and a macroeconomic and corporate event calendar.

• Lippo Karawaci
• Softbank Group

JDC Group (JDC) reported strong Q124 results. Revenue growth accelerated to 21.6% from 10% in FY23, driven by its Advisortech division (+22.6%). In terms of profitability, the EBITDA margin increased to 7.6% from 7.3% in Q123. JDC reiterated its FY24 revenue guidance of €205–220m, 24% y-o-y growth at the midpoint, partly driven by the acquisition of Top Ten Financial Network, which management expects to contribute more than €18m in revenues this year. EBITDA is also expected to increase to a guided range of €14.5–16.0m (FY23: €11.7m). We make no changes to our estimates. Our DCF provides a valuation of €34.0/share.

• Pioneer Credit Limited (ASX:PNC) is one of the leading acquirers and managers of impaired credit in Australia and has gained its status by maintaining positive customer engagement, an unblemished compliance record with ASIC, and strong relationships with Australia’s largest bank and non-bank lenders.
• PNC purchases debt from numerous Australian vendor partners (18 different vendors in the past 12 months) with long-term partnership purchasing arrangements in place with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA).
• Pioneer’s success in purchasing large debt portfolios at attractive IRRs since October highlights the strong position the company occupies in the marketplace, now enhanced by the recent purchases on attractive IRRs.