Daily Brief Financials: Standard Chartered, Link REIT, Sabana Industrial REIT, Bitcoin, Sino-Ocean Group, Credit Suisse Group AG, S&U PLC, SES AI Corp and more

• Back on the 5 January, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB DH) said it had considered a bid for Standard Chartered (STAN LN/2888 HK),  but was no longer evaluating an Offer.
• Such a statement kickstarts a six-month cooling-off period whereby FAB is restricted from reloading. This means all deal work must cease.  Unless another bidder emerges or STAN’s board approves. 
• In a curious development, STAN’s shares popped ~11% yesterday, on no apparent news.

• After being halted this morning before the start of trade, post-close, Link REIT (823 HK) announced a fully-underwritten Rights Offering. 
• The Rights Offering intends to raise HK$18.8bn issuing 1 Right for every 5 Shares held, at a subscription price of HK$44.20, a 26% discount to TERP. 
• This will take an already under-levered REIT and add more capital to it. And there is going to be selling pressure at some point.

• Sabana Industrial REIT (SSREIT SP)’s partial offer from Volare to acquire a maximum of 109.6 million units at S$0.4504 per unit (S$0.465 in cash – S$0.0146 2H2022 distribution) is open.
• The offer is conditional on 10% minimum acceptances. Minorities appear willing sellers as both Volare and Quarz increased their unitholding over the last 12 months.  
• Quarz is supportive but its intentions are unclear. Based on a proration of 16.70% and at the last close of S$0.420 per unit, the breakeven price is S$0.415 per unit.

• Beijing’s city market regulator has warned the public to steer clear of firms promising big returns with little risk from investments in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse.
• The statement is the latest indication that China’s watchdogs are unlikely to change their stance on speculative investments like NFTs, a form of digital token, anytime soon.
• The latest warning comes less than two years after China outlawed cryptocurrency trading and mining, also seeking to stamp out rampant speculative investment in virtual currencies like bitcoin and ether.

Lucror Analytics Weekly Wraps provide an overview of all Morning Views comments and reports published by our analyst team in the past week, and also showcase a list of the most-read reports.

In this Insight:

1. Wynn Macau Ltd
2. Vedanta Resources
3. Softbank Group
4. Country Garden Holdings Co
5. China Hongqiao

and more…

• A flight to safety from the bank’s depositors and asset management clients has caused a maturity mismatch, which could affect the firm’s net interest income.
• The outcome of Credit Suisse’s investment banking unit pivot is near impossible to call, but a few key indicators provide an interesting juxtaposition.
• And there we have it, folks; Credit Suisse Group AG’s (NYSE:CS) stock is essentially a distressed asset.

S&U’s year-end trading update confirmed that trading for both Advantage motor finance and Aspen property bridging has remained excellent since its last update in December. Full-year results, due on 28 March, are expected to meet expectations and be above budget. The economic background and tightened lending criteria are likely to have an impact in FY24, but there is still scope for more measured, responsible growth in S&U’s areas of specialist lending expertise.

• On February 9, SES announced it was awarded cash grants from the South Korean Central Government, represented by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), as well as Chung-Buk Province and Chung-Ju City.
• In September 2022, President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea invited Dr. Qichao Hu, CEO and founder of SES, to a meeting, which included CEOs of renowned US technology firms, to discuss how SES and the South Korean government may collaborate to advance next-generation battery technology.
• Following this meeting, SES announced its intention to increase investments in South Korea to support manufacturing and development of its large-capacity Apollo cells.