Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of IPO & Placements for Aequitas Research. At Aequitas we cover all IPOs and placements across Asia-Pac with a deal size of at least US$100m. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%. 
Prior to Aequitas. I was heading Content Strategy for Smartkarma, along with covering IPOs & Placement. In an earlier life I have covered ASEAN property and the banking space in India.

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

Smartkarma

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Cowell E Holdings / Equity Capital Markets

<p>Cowell e holdings (Cowell) plans to raise ~US$100-150m through its IPO through a mix of primary and secondary shares. We would take the deal, towards the mid-end as at the high-end we expect upside to be limited:</p><ul><li>The company has been a camera module supplier to Apple since 2009 and supplies over 50% of&nbsp;iPhone front cameras</li><li>The company has exhibited strong revenue and PATMI growth in the recent past and&nbsp;Cowell&nbsp;is looking at supplying more cameras (back cameras) to Apple as well, while increasing its supply to LG as well</li><li>The offer price implies a valuation of 6.2-8.9x p/e which looks reasonable as compared to an average 12x for peers with the overall range being from 6.8-20x</li></ul><p>However, we expect upside to be limited given:</p><ul><li>Its production line for Apple front cameras, can only be used to supply Apple and hence, that limits expansion capabilities with regards to other manufacturers. In addition,&nbsp;Apple tends to limit its exposure to any component provider at 50%, that too limits further revenue upside.</li><li>There are enough listed options available to investors to play this sector, hence, the stock doesn't offer a unique exposure as such</li><li>Other IT sector listing in Hong Kong recently haven't done well (Q Technology was a recent listing in the same space, which is still below IPO price). In addition, the deal doesn't have any cornerstone investors.</li></ul>

Cowell e holdings (Cowell) plans to raise ~US$100-150m through its IPO through a mix of primary and secondary shares. We would take the deal, towards the mid-end as at the high-end we expect upside to be limited:The company has been a camera module supplier to Apple since 2009 and supplies over 50% of&nbsp;iPhone front camerasThe company has exhibited strong revenue and PATMI growth in the recent past and&nbsp;Cowell&nbsp;is looking at supplying more cameras (back cameras) to Apple as well, while increasing its supply to LG as wellThe offer price implies a valuation of 6.2-8.9x p/e which looks reasonable as compared to an average 12x for peers with the overall range being from 6.8-20xHowever, we expect upside to be limited given:Its production line for Apple front cameras, can only be used to supply Apple and hence, that limits expansion capabilities with regards to other manufacturers. In addition,&nbsp;Apple tends to limit its exposure to any component provider at 50%, that too limits further revenue upside.There are enough listed options available to investors to play this sector, hence, the stock doesn't offer a unique exposure as suchOther IT sector listing in Hong Kong recently haven't done well (Q Technology was a recent listing in the same space, which is still below IPO price). In addition, the deal doesn't have any cornerstone investors.

Cowell Holdings (1415 HK) - A cheap play on Apple but we would be price sensitive