The minimal premium for Huntsman Corp (HUN US) from Clariant met with a cool reception, yet the deal spread has widened on the prospect of an interloper making a tilt for Clariant - a not unreasonable prospect given the rampant M&A in the chemicals space.
Evonik paid US$3.8bn for Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD US) in Jan this year and is set to close on a US$630mn purchase of JM Huber (privately held). Evonik has been a stickler on maintaining its investment grade rating. Clariant shares are up (~30% since mid-April) in response to activism and the Huntmans deal. Any counter offer would have to come at a decent premium. And given the no-solicitation clause, a third party needs to do so without conducting due diligence.
BASF maybe and certainly has the financial clout to do so, but since taking on the CEO role, Kurt Bock has been “cautious and averse to overpaying". The exception was the $3.2bn acquisition of Chemetall last year.
Roderick concludes a disruption to the Clariant/Huntsman deal is unlikely.
Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA discussed KBANK paying US$20mn - or 2.5x P/B - for a 10% stake in Indonesia’s Maspion bank.
Indonesia will be a more difficult market to crack compared to frontier (& underbanked) market like Cambodia, where BAY recently bought micro-lender.
But perhaps this exercise is all about KBANK getting a toehold in Indonesia and elevating its foreign banking expertise, a business in which KBANK has enjoyed only limited success in Yunnan (China). And Maspion’s NPLs accounting for < 1% of total assets is a good thing. Especially if it all goes wrong.
KBANK popped over Bt200 on the news (Bt204 at the close Friday), which Athaporn believes is unjustified on the back of this deal. For larger banks, he prefers Siam Commercial Bank Pub Co (SCB TB) given its better “risk-return trade off and profitability”. And Bank Of Ayudhya Pcl (BAY TB) & LH Bank for mid-tier banks as these two will be supported by strategic foreign investors (Mitsubishi-UFJ and China Trust Bank respectively), which can bring “capital, technology, and new financial products to their subsidiaries.”
Investors are receptive to LG Electronics Inc (066570 KS)'s possible acquisition of Austria's vehicle headlamp maker ZKW . LGE hasn't officially denied or confirmed a deal, although various media sources indicate LG is the front-running bidder.
Reportedly Panasonic Corp (6752 JP) was in discussion last year with a price tag of US$885mn. LG has the funds to cover the current estimated asking price of $1.2bn.
Why ZKW? Sanghyun Park believes LGE is continually looking to refine/perfect its ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), the jewel of LGE’s loss-making Vehicle Component division. “At the center of ADAS stands highly sophisticated cameras that can visually recognize what is going in front of a car. This is exactly why LGE has been shopping for vehicle headlamp makers around the world.”
It may be premature to draw conclusions, however, the market is highly receptive that “LGE may have finally found a suitable M&A target in many years.”
Andrew Lu discussed the on again/off again negotiations between Toshiba and WDC over the US$17-18bn chip business.
Pivoting off a Reuters article, WDC's “financial participation in the deal is limited to 150 billion yen ($1.4 billion) through convertible bonds, and its stake will be no more than a third when those bonds are converted.”
Of interest is the Yen300bn to be funded by “other companies” with Andrew believes will be taken by some Japanese companies to provide financing for Toshiba to keep more TMC shares or by Toshiba supply-chain partners like Kingston and Phison Electronics Corp (8299 TT). Along with INCJ Inc. and Development Bank of Japan's JPY$300bn (16%) investment each, Andrew believes Toshiba is trying to secure more equity and debt financing from Japanese companies and banks to lock in big NAND flash profits for domestic vendors.
No deal was sealed by end-August and latest news from Reuters is that WDC's CEO Steve Milligan regrets the litigation and disputes with Toshiba. Milligan said WDC will also address Apple's concerns. Apple is a key customer of Toshiba's memory chops and is also understood to have joined Bain's consortium bidding for the chip unit.
CTFN discusses Brazilian telco Oi, which has filed for in-court reorganisation. The company is facing R$64bn (US$20bn) in claims from 55,000 creditors, R$11bn (US$3.5bn) of which is owed to telecoms regulator, Anatel.
Anatel is hesitant to take any steps so as not be seen to be giving any preferential treatment. The word on the street is that “not only (is Oi) unable to repay the fines, but also that is not capable of generating enough returns to maintain its quality of service and sustain the business in the long term.”
Earlier in August, Oi announced a R$8bn (US$2.5bn) capital raising to shore up its balance sheet. A creditors meeting is expected in September, perhaps October. An alternative restructuring plan involving the conversion of a high percentage of debt into equity is now off the table.
In essence, Oi is seeking to stave off bankruptcy “in one way or another,” given that the "collapse of a former national champion would have devastating consequences for the Brazilian economy."
This is a thoughtful read, which my briefing cannot fully capture. I recommend reading the insight via the link below.
A breakout in many of the Macau names (August casino revs increased 20.4% yoy vs. consensus of 18.5%) places Shun Tak back in the spotlight. Shun Tak is down around 15% from its June peak, which occurred after a remarkable run up that month (44%) premised on possible restructuring or activism rumours. Pranav Rao discussed these narratives in Shun Tak Holdings: A Roll of the Dice.
However, Shun Tak’s indirect 6.2% interest into SJM accounts for ~25% of its market cap and just 9% of its NAV. The bulk of Shun Tak’s NAV centres on development property (71%), which is not exclusively exposed to Macau – around 35% of our development property value relates to a project in Beijing. Pages 42-44 of the 2016 annual report provide a breakdown of the DP pipeline
Shun Tak may get a sentiment boost as casino revs show signs of a potential recovery; however, there are other quantitative aspects of the NAV, specifically development property prospects, that need to be taken into account before concluding a bullish tilt.
If successful, the tender will raise Innox’s take in IAM to 34.4%, exceeding the 20% threshold to qualify as a holdco. If the target shares aren’t met, all subscribed shares will be swapped. If exceeding the targeted shares, subscribed shares will be swapped on a pro-rata basis.
The offer mirrors that of Hyundai Robotics (267250 KS), but with less baggage, with just one target company while the holdco has immaterial operations.
The target shares equate to 24.37% of issued shares and the major shareholder, who is expected to tender, has 24.47%. It appears a slam dunk but Sanghyun cautions that given the way Robotics played out, there still could be surprises before the tender offer price is confirmed on 26 September. Sanghyun estimates a tentative price of ₩21,525 for Innox vs. its last close of ₩20,200.