In today’s briefing:
- Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: FTSE AW/AC, FTSE CH50/A50/TW50, KS200, NIFTY, STAR50, Russia
- Emart Announces A Major Share Buyback Program
- Japan Lifeline (7575 JP) Throws a Lifeline to Its Share Price
- Last Week in Event SPACE: CIMIC, SK Square, AGL Energy, Mapletree, Z Energy, VW/Porsche
- Daiwa Office REIT (8976) Buyback – It Looks Better Than It Probably Is
- Asia-Pac Weekly Risk Arb Summary: CIMIC, AGL, Razer, Z Energy, G J Steel, Mapletree North Asia
Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: FTSE AW/AC, FTSE CH50/A50/TW50, KS200, NIFTY, STAR50, Russia
- Changes to the FTSE All-World/All-Cap were announced over the previous weekend, NIFTY was announced Thursday and STAR50 on Friday. LG Energy’s inclusion to the KOSPI200 was also announced.
- 21 February was the review cutoff for the March rebalance of the FTSE China 50, FTSE China A50, STI, FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 and the FTSE EPRA Nareit.
- On Friday, FTSE announced that two of the previously announced inclusions would not be added, while there would be 10 new additions to the All-World/All-Cap indices.
Emart Announces A Major Share Buyback Program
- On 25 February, E Mart Inc (139480 KS) announced that it will buy back 1 million shares, representing 3.6% of its outstanding shares. Currently, Emart has 87,464 treasury shares.
- We believe Emart’s share price is well positioned to continue to outperform the market in the next several months, driven by the large buyback program.
- Emart is currently trading at 0.4x P/B (38% lower than the historical valuation multiples). One could argue that Emart is valued at an excessive discount to the historical valuations.
Japan Lifeline (7575 JP) Throws a Lifeline to Its Share Price
- Japan Lifeline announced a buyback on Friday after the close.
- The stock saw a huge growth spurt in the first half of the last decade but slowed down post 2018. So the stock has significantly underperformed the sector.
- The buyback parameters and the stock’s trading history suggest that with the stock near a 5-year low, it is worth looking a little deeper.
Last Week in Event SPACE: CIMIC, SK Square, AGL Energy, Mapletree, Z Energy, VW/Porsche
- Hochtief AG (HOT GR) has finally launched an unconditional offer for the rest of CIMIC Group Ltd (CIM AU) (where it already owns 78.58%).
- SK Square (402340 KS) was inexpensive after its November listing. Now it’s even cheaper.
- Canada-Based asset manager Brookfield Asset Management (BAM US) and Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes have combined to purchase all of AGL Energy Ltd (AGL AU) at A$7.50/share
Daiwa Office REIT (8976) Buyback – It Looks Better Than It Probably Is
- Daiwa Office Investment (8976 JP) announced on Thursday an extraordinary but minor income amount from a legal settlement, and a buyback.
- This buyback resembles those conducted from February to May 2018 and 2021.
- A look at the pattern of buyback execution vs parameters and of Daiwa Office performance vs the sub-sector within prior buybacks is worthwhile.
Asia-Pac Weekly Risk Arb Summary: CIMIC, AGL, Razer, Z Energy, G J Steel, Mapletree North Asia
- There are currently 42 – mostly firm – transactions currently being discussed and analysed on Smartkarma.
- Two new deals this week: Hochtief AG (HOT GR) for CIMIC Group Ltd (CIM AU); Brookfield Asset Management (BAM US) for AGL Energy Ltd (AGL AU).
- Key updates took place for: Razer (1337 HK), Apollo Tourism (ATL AU), Aventus (AVN AU), Z Energy (ZEL NZ), G J Steel (GJS TB), and Mapletree North Asia Commercial (MAGIC SP).
Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma
