Asean-focused. Ex-Head of Thai Research

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

Athaporn served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 22 years, of which 19 were in research and 9 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006.

Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also performs financial advisory services for TKC Services and provides 11 other on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely:

1) Snippets (news-driven);
2) Sathorn Series (financial services);
3) Silicon Stories (technology); 
4) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin series);
5) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative);
6) Thai Media Spotlight;
7) Political Pit Stop; 
8) Telecom Review; 
9) Thai Macro Watch (read-through from foreign events);  
10) Small Cap Diary; and
11) Property Grid

There are also 3 limited-time series driven by specific events or locations, namely:
1) Thai Corona Crisis;
2) South Series; and
3) Mechanics and Details (deal forensics).

The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma - Digital Microlending, Central Retail, and Ayala Corp

Reality Check XXII: How Might the Central-Robinson Trade Pan Out?

Snippets #34: Tesco in Play, CRC's Indicative IPO Pricing

The New Abnormal (Part II): Boosting Consumption & Hypermarket Wars

IPO Radar: CRC (Part I), Thai Department Store Behemoth

Reality Check XIX: Is There Some Upside to ROBINS in a Central Dept Backdoor Listing?

ROBINS: A Right for IPO Subscription of Central Retail

Asean (Thailand) Focused Independent Research

M Corp Review

M Corp is led by Athaporn Arayasantiparb who served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 17 years, of which 14 were in research and 4 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006. Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also provides six on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely: 1) Silicon Stories (technology) 2) Sathorn Series (financial services) 3) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin stories) 4) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative) 5) Thai Media Spotlight; and 6) Thai Macro Watch (global market drivers).

Equity Capital Markets

Central Retail Corp Ltd / Equity Capital Markets

Primarily, we value CRC at Bt58/sh, implying a fair swap ratio of 1.15 CRC share to each ROBINS share. Our alternate valuation based on EV/EBITDA is Bt91. We are already invested in this stock via ROBINS. <ul>
<li>We value their three business lines (fashion, hardline, and food), and despite its lower growth, fashion is by far the most significant segment, accounting for 44% of its EV for the primary method (SOTP with DCF). We expect CRC to be on par with SCB in market value, making it one of Thailand's top 10 companies...a very rare IPO indeed.</li>
<li>The company is investing Bt18.4bn in 2020. The bulk of this money will go to the food business and systems improvement.</li>
<li>Foremost amongst the key risks identified are: 1) threats from e-commerce; 2) events risk; 3) continued ability to attract top brands; and 4) inventory-related risks.</li>
</ul>

Primarily, we value CRC at Bt58/sh, implying a fair swap ratio of 1.15 CRC share to each ROBINS share. Our alternate valuation based on EV/EBITDA is Bt91. We are already invested in this stock via ROBINS. 
We value their three business lines (fashion, hardline, and food), and despite its lower growth, fashion is by far the most significant segment, accounting for 44% of its EV for the primary method (SOTP with DCF). We expect CRC to be on par with SCB in market value, making it one of Thailand's top 10 companies...a very rare IPO indeed.
The company is investing Bt18.4bn in 2020. The bulk of this money will go to the food business and systems improvement.
Foremost amongst the key risks identified are: 1) threats from e-commerce; 2) events risk; 3) continued ability to attract top brands; and 4) inventory-related risks.


IPO Radar: CRC (Part 2), Valuation and Risks