Daily Brief TMT/Internet: LG Energy Solution, Canon Inc, Alibaba (ADR), Far Eastone Telecomm, Mobvoi, Meta Platforms (Facebook), 1Spatial Plc and more

• After the market close on 16 June, it was reported in the local media that LG Chem is close to selling about 2 trillion won worth of LG Energy Solution.
• This block deal sale is likely to pose overhang on more stake sales of LG Energy Solution (about 10% stake) in the next 3-5 years.
• Our NAV valuation analysis of LG Chem suggests an implied price of 1,057,770 won per share, which is 41% higher than current share price.

• Canon Inc (7751 JP) has, as discussed in these pages, conducted 18 buybacks since the GFC. Every single one is ¥50bn. They are short and sharp. The longest? 23 days.
• The most recent took 18 days, and was only 15% of ADV, significantly lower than the average of the last dozen at 23-24%.
• This time, 3 days after the finished they launched another. The stock popped 5% the first day. There’s a reason for that. Shareholder structure STILL matters a lot. 

• We expect June quarter results to beat consensus and demonstrate a balanced growth across topline and bottom-line.
• During a time when headlines drive BABA share price, it is more important to stay grounded in numbers, see what is in price and make trades accordingly.
• We maintain US$500 billion target market cap on 20x RMB180 billion non-GAAP net profit by FY25.

• Far Eastone Telecomm (4904 TT)’s (FE) parent aims to raise around US$165m via selling 1.9% of its stake.
• As far as we could see this appears to be the first selldown by the parent and doesn’t seem to have been well flagged.
• In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and comment on other deal dynamics.

• Mobvoi, the innovative Chinese AI company backed by Google, Volkswagen Group, and top-tier VC firms, filed for a Hong Kong IPO. The company plans to raise between $200M and $300M. 
• Mobvoi is a rapidly growing AI unicorn. Revenue from AI software solutions skyrocketed 400%+ y/y in 2022. The company will launch AI painting assistant and AI writing assistant 2.0. soon.
• China-Based startup chose CICC and CMB international to tap capital markets to develop universal LLM, market expansion, strategic alliances, acquisitions, and working capital. 

• During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook’s DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009?
• The number that got the highest votes was ~80% even though I mentioned the most recent number was ~68%.
• I asked this question a couple of friends in real life too and they too picked the ~80% number.

1Spatial has won its first two contracts for 1Streetworks, the company’s SaaS-based Traffic Management Plan Automation product. This is an important development for the company in that the potential addressable market for this product is large; management estimates around £250m for low speed roads in the UK alone and 1Spatial looks well positioned to gain a significant market share. 1Streetworks also runs on the company’s newly launched cloud-based platform, representing an important milestone in 1Spatial’s migration to a scalable, SaaS-based model. Both contracts are for a three-month term initially, with the intention to move to annual or multi-year contracts upon successful completion. We are not changing our estimates at this stage. Further deal flow for 1Streetworks (or other SaaS products), together with the continuation of these initial deals to longer engagements, could be the catalyst for stronger growth and margin expansion to become priced in.