Daily Brief Financials: New World Development, Monex Group Inc, IDFC First Bank Limited, Biotech Growth Trust PLC/The and more

• New World Development (17 HK) nudges an all-time low P/B and implied stub; as the privatisation of NWS Holdings (659 HK) moves gradually forward. 
• Preceding my comments on NWD/NWS are the current setup/unwind tables for Asia-Pacific Holdcos
• These relationships trade with a minimum liquidity of US$1mn, and a % market capitalisation >20%.

• Today, Monex Group Inc (8698 JP) and NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone) (9432 JP)‘s NTT Docomo announced a Capital and Business Alliance Agreement. It is a complicated deal.
• Monex GROUP will create a holdco which owns Monex Inc (the broker) and sell 51% to Docomo. Docomo will consolidate. Monex Group will own 49% as an equity method affiliate.
• Monex GROUP will then double its dividend, maybe buy back shares, and expects to grow as Docomo pushes and Monex invests. But what remains is a mixed bag.

• IDFC First Bank Limited (IDFCBK IN) is looking to raise up to INR30bn (US$361m) via a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP). 
• The deal is a relatively small one to digest at 6.3 days of three month ADV and 4.9% dilution.
• In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.

The Biotech Growth Trust (BIOG) now has two co-managers, Geoff Hsu and Josh Golomb, at global healthcare specialist OrbiMed Capital. The trust has experienced a difficult period of relative performance due to the managers’ approach of focusing on emerging (smaller-cap) biotech stocks rather than large-cap biotech businesses, because of their higher growth prospects. This strategy has been out of favour in an uncertain macroeconomic environment. Hsu and Golomb highlight attractive valuations in the biotech sector, which are not reflecting favourable industry fundamentals, including high levels of innovation across a range of therapeutic areas and an acceleration in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ahead of an upcoming patent cliff.