In today’s briefing:
- Toshiba – Some Thoughts on the Bain Article
- LG Energy IPO Lock-Up – Some Might Be Tempted to Book Profits
- Keppel : Thinking About Keppel/SMM MergeCo and NEW KEPPEL Pro-Forma Opportunities
- Zhihu HK Secondary Listing Trading – Delivered the Correction but Still Set for the Worst Debut Yet
- Softbank Group – Strong Dollar Impact Boosts Buyback Math Although Debt May Rise Too
Toshiba – Some Thoughts on the Bain Article
- Yesterday the Nikkei published an article featuring Bain MD Yuji Sugimoto who also featured heavily during their bid for Kioxia.
- Sugimoto commented that in the event of a buyout there would be no break-up of Toshiba.
- While plausibly a PR move directed at employees that stance raises the question of exactly how they would unlock value.
LG Energy IPO Lock-Up – Some Might Be Tempted to Book Profits
- LG Energy Solution (LGES) raised US$10.8bn in its South Korea IPO in Jan 22. Its three-month lockup is set to expire soon.
- LGES is the EV battery unit of LG Chem. The company is a major supplier to customers including Tesla and General Motors.
- In this note, we will talk about the lock-up dynamics and updates since our last note.
Keppel : Thinking About Keppel/SMM MergeCo and NEW KEPPEL Pro-Forma Opportunities
- 20 months ago, Temasek walked away from a deal to buy control of Keppel Corp (KEP SP) as the O&M business saw large writedowns and covid stoppage losses.
- The story? A possible Keppel O&M and Sembcorp Marine (SMM SP) merger. SMM was recapped and spun out of Sembcorp Industries (SCI SP) then recapped again.
- Now it’s crunch time. Keppel & SMM hope to update investors on a merger plan by end of April. This insight looks at what to look out for.
Zhihu HK Secondary Listing Trading – Delivered the Correction but Still Set for the Worst Debut Yet
- Zhihu Technology (ZH US) raised around US$106m via a dual primary listing in Hong Kong.
- Unlike all the prior dual primary/secondary listings which have been done via offering either only primary or a mix of primary+secondary shares, Zhihu’s offering will consist of only secondary shares.
- In this note, we’ll talk about the demand and trading dynamics.
Softbank Group – Strong Dollar Impact Boosts Buyback Math Although Debt May Rise Too
- The strong dollar has boosted Softbank’s predominantly dollar-linked asset value by 9% in yen terms (although reported net debt will also increase)
- Also relevant is a decrease in the dollar cost of its ¥1,000bn share repurchase which was $8.8bn when announced but costs less than $8bn at the current exchange rate.
- This has kept the share price up YTD and QTD despite weakness in the investment portfolio but tech weakness probably has more legs than dollar appreciation
Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma
