In today’s briefing:
- Benefit One (2412) – Pro-Ration Expectations Update
- Korean Government Launches a Tender Offer to Sell a 29.3% Stake in NXC Corp for US$3.6 Billion
- Seven & I Ventures Down Under with 7-Eleven Australia Acquisition
- Sanyo Trading (3176 JP) – Aiming to Elevate to a Higher-Quality Business
- LaKeel (4074 JP) – Highlighting Opportunities and Acknowledging Challenges
Benefit One (2412) – Pro-Ration Expectations Update
- Since the announcement of the Benefit One Inc (2412 JP) partial offer, the stock has traded 16+mm shares in the market, which is about 40% of Real World Float.
- Some of that has been traded multiple times. Looking only at that data would suggest a higher pro-ration, but I expect there is other data one must take into account.
- Benefit One shares are currently trading at a level suggesting either lower participation OR higher back-end despite the earnings guidance downgrade at announcement.
Korean Government Launches a Tender Offer to Sell a 29.3% Stake in NXC Corp for US$3.6 Billion
- On 4 December, the South Korean government announced that it will launch a tender offer to sell a 29.3% stake in NXC Corp for about US$3.6 billion.
- The two daughters of ex-Chairman Kim Jung-Ju handed over a 29.3% stake in NXC Corp to the Korean government as payment-in-kind in May 2023 to pay for inheritance taxes.
- The tender offer sale of the Korean government’s 29.3% stake in NXC Corp (worth nearly 4.7 trillion won) is a positive catalyst for Nexon (3659 JP).
Seven & I Ventures Down Under with 7-Eleven Australia Acquisition
- Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP) announced last week that it had agreed to buy the 7-Eleven convenience store chain in Australia for A$1.71bn ($1.1bn).
- The acquisition may not immediately impact Seven & I’s stock price like Speedway did, given its smaller scale, lack of synergies, and less favorable macroeconomic conditions.
- The main positive takeaway from this news is that the acquisition price for 7-Eleven Australia is not as extravagant as the amount Seven & I paid for the Speedway acquisition.
Sanyo Trading (3176 JP) – Aiming to Elevate to a Higher-Quality Business
- Business investment and targeting growth – we view Sanyo Trading’s new long-term plan as a step in the right direction for the company to become a higher-quality business.
- Whilst investment activities and macro headwinds may limit short-term growth prospects, the company has indicated ¥20bn to ¥30bn 5-year cumulative allocation in human capital, DX implementation, and M&A, which should drive transformation into a more diversified and resilient business.
- This commitment by management demonstrates its aim to drive higher returns by leveraging its core strengths of product differentiation, strong technical staff, and maintaining high customer success in new products and activities.
LaKeel (4074 JP) – Highlighting Opportunities and Acknowledging Challenges
- Results highlighting both strengths and limitations – Q1-3 FY12/2023 results were below expectations, with the company experiencing a delay and potential cancellation of a large license sale, which had a negative knock-on effect on related Consulting demand.
- FY12/2023 company guidance has been revised to reflect lowered earnings visibility.
- Although this highlights the need for the company to strengthen business model resilience, growth in DX-related in-house LaKeel Products remained stable with sales up 19.3% YoY.
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