Daily Brief Financials: New World Development, Korea Stock Exchange Kospi Index, Digital Core REIT, Japan Post Holdings, Bank Mandiri Persero, American International Group, BV Financial Inc, New York Community Bank, Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200, Marsh & Mclennan and more

• New World Development (17 HK) stock has continued to drop and the decrease in market cap should result in selling from passive trackers at the end of the month.
• New World Development (17 HK) has underperformed its peers and now trades at cheaper valuations on most parameters.
• Passive trackers will need to sell over 100m shares of New World Development. That could provide liquidity for investors that see value and for shorts to cover their positions.

• The Financial Services Commission plans to delegate merger swap ratio determination to corporate autonomy. Initially, only mergers between non-affiliated companies will be affected, with potential extension to affiliate mergers later.
• The Financial Services Commission aims to start the legislative process in mid-February and complete the amendment by the third quarter of this year.
• This change will enhance trading dynamics by decreasing the likelihood of prices aligning with the ratio just before merger announcements due to pre-information leakage.

• Digital Core REIT (DCREIT SP) is looking to raise at least US$100m in its primary placement. The proceeds will be used to fund potential acquisitions and debt repayment. 
• The deal will be a large one to digest at 72.7 days of three month ADV and 12.8% dilution.
• In this note, we’ll run the deal through our ECM framework and comment on deal dynamics.

• A company that is geared to Japan’s macro revival with additional micro catalysts. 
• Ownership of financial companies which are set to benefit from a normalisation of Japanese monetary policy.
• The low Price to Book means the company will need to keep up momentum on its capital management plans to  stay in the Prime Section of Topix.

• Bank Mandiri (BMRI IJ) stood out from its peers with higher loan growth and lower cost of credit with PPOP growth of +17.3% YoY and its ROE reaching 23%. 
• The bank experienced a slight decline in NIM in 4Q2023 but asset quality remains solid and its digital initiatives continue to reduce costs and attract new users.
• Bank Mandiri‘s guidance for 2024 is more positive than peers for loan growth, as it continues to push out its value chain lending strategy into higher-yielding segments. Valuations remain attractive.

• The American Airlines Group reported adjusted pretax profit of $257 million for the fourth quarter and approximately $2.5 billion for the full year 2023.
• This result was driven by the strength of the network, demand for products, and execution by the team.
• Positive indications from the group include historically strong operation with the production of record free cash flow and a strengthened balance sheet through debt reduction.

Key points (machine generated)

• BV Financial recently completed its conversion from a mutual holding company to a full-converted stock company.
• The bank has consistently achieved a return on equity of 10-11% in recent years.
• Despite its significant growth, BV Financial’s securities represent only 5% of its total assets of $933 million.

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• March 2023 was a noteworthy month for US stock market investors. It was one of only two significant corrections in an otherwise stellar year.
• The other one was in October driven by an interest rate scare.
• Usually a cocktail of several reasons is needed to create a correction. These typically involve technical, seasonal and fundamental/macro factors.

• The KOSPI 200 INDEX last week displayed and impressive bounce, maybe too impressive, too quick, too fast.
• A short-selling ban is in place until June 2024 for this market, but that does not mean it cannot pull back: according to our models the KOSPI 200 INDEX is OVERBOUGHT.
• We expect a pullback next week, unless the index closes this week down, in that case SHORT resistance levels will be reset.

• Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc.
• wrapped up the 2023 fiscal year with strong results, underscoring the firm’s robust organic and inorganic growth strategies.
• Total revenue for the year was $22.7 billion, marking a growth of 10%.