Brief Event-Driven: Lynas (LYC AU): Wesfarmers’ Unattractive Bid and more

In this briefing:

1. Lynas (LYC AU): Wesfarmers’ Unattractive Bid
2. StubWorld: Naspers Embeds Another Layer Into Tencent
3. Wesfarmers Puts Out A Bid for Lynas
4. DHICO Rights Offer: Ceiling Price at ₩5,550 & Today Is Last Day Before Ex-Rights
5. Last Week in GER Research: Navitas, Mindtree, PG&E, Delta Electronics, GDS, Myob, Sigma and Ruhnn

1. Lynas (LYC AU): Wesfarmers’ Unattractive Bid

Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU) launched a conditional, non-binding indicative proposal for Lynas Corp Ltd (LYC AU), one of the world’s only rare earths suppliers based outside China. Wesfarmers’ proposal of A$2.25 cash per share values Lynas at A$1.5 billion. Lynas’ share price jumped 35% to A$2.10 before going into a trading halt.

2. StubWorld: Naspers Embeds Another Layer Into Tencent

This week in StubWorld …

• There is no apparent value enhancement to Naspers Ltd (NPN SJ)‘s spinning-off and separately listing Tencent Holdings (700 HK), while there is no change in governance and no monetisation at the parent level.

Preceding my comments on Naspers are the weekly setup/unwind tables for Asia-Pacific Holdcos.

These relationships trade with a minimum liquidity threshold of US$1mn on a 90-day moving average, and a % market capitalisation threshold – the $ value of the holding/opco held, over the parent’s market capitalisation, expressed in percent – of at least 20%.

3. Wesfarmers Puts Out A Bid for Lynas

This morning, Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU) announced an indicative, non-binding proposal to the Board of Directors of Lynas Corp Ltd (LYC AU) to acquire Lynas at A$2.25/share, payable in cash in the form of a Scheme of Arrangement.  

This is a 44.7% premium to the one-day price and a 36.4% premium to the 60-day price.

It is, however, a 0% premium to the price at which Lynas was trading on 3 December 2018, the day before the Malaysian Minister for Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate imposed two pre-conditions on the rolling over of the processing licence (later in 2019), and it is a 3.2% premium to the one-year average as of 4 December 2018. On December 5th, the shares fell to A$1.65 and they have not recovered.

David Blennerhassett gave an overview of the license renewal issues and timeline in Lynas: Between a Hard Place and Just Rock just a few weeks ago. It is definitely worth a read as background for those not up to speed on the situation. 

This is very early, non-binding, conditional in the extreme, and conditional non-binding offers are a graveyard of Australian arbitrageurs. The Offer is not all that attractive to boot. But I expect the stock will go up anyway, and that may make for some interesting trading opportunities.

4. DHICO Rights Offer: Ceiling Price at ₩5,550 & Today Is Last Day Before Ex-Rights

• DHICO rights offer 1st round pricing was fixed at ₩5,550. This ₩5,550 will serve as the ceiling. It is nearly guaranteed that the final offer price will be fixed somewhere between ₩5,000 and ₩5,550. It can not go lower than the face value ₩5,000.
• Today (Mar 26) is the last day to get subscription rights. Subscription rights will be then tradable on Apr 19~25. The 4 bookrunners will buy all forfeited shares at a 15% discount to final offering price. There is no cancellation risk.
• Local arb traders made their move yesterday. Foreign arb traders entered as well. Past tendency shows buying earlier would pay off more handsomely than waiting longer. DHICO’s fundamentals isn’t showing any positive sign yet. Deal structure isn’t helping improve street sentiments either. This event needs a lot of arb traders to hit the target. This is another relief point for those making early trades.

5. Last Week in GER Research: Navitas, Mindtree, PG&E, Delta Electronics, GDS, Myob, Sigma and Ruhnn

Below is a recap of the key Event-driven, IPO and placement research produced by the Global Equity Research team. This week we highlight Arun’s analysis on the takeover deals for Navitas Ltd (NVT AU) and Mindtree Ltd (MTCL IN) and the valuation range for Delta Electronics Thai (DELTA TB) . In addition, Arun recommends taking the Gds Holdings (Adr) (GDS US) placement while recommending the deal for MYOB Group Ltd (MYO AU) and contends investors may need to be patient for the rejected Sigma Healthcare (SIG AU) deal. Venkat looks into the bankruptcy arbitrage situation for P G & E Corp (PCG US) and contends PG&E has no equity value due to pending litigation risks. Finally, Arun initiates on the IPO of Chinese e-commerce company Ruhnn Holding Ltd (RUHN US)

Best of luck for the new week – Arun, Venkat and Rickin