Last Week in Event SPACE ...
Embracing Sanyo Special Steel Co Ltd (5481 JP)'s complicated arbitrage; CFIUS dings Broadcom Limited (AVGO US) but questions remain as to how serious were their intentions; even more downside in Celltrion Inc (068270 KS) following the completion of the KOSPI 200 inclusion and ION's placement; iKang Healthcare Group (ADR) (KANG US) finally receives an official offer; nicely played as Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN US) settles long-standing litigations; an MSCI re-balance in Japan is likely offset by an ex-dividend big buy; and why large CCASS moves matter.
EVENTS |
Sanyo Special Steel Co Ltd (5481 JP) (Mkt Cap: $868mn; Liquidity: $4.5mn)
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (5401 JP) announced late Thursday a desire to make its specialty steel business global by integrating more fully the business of Sanyo Special Steel Co Ltd (5481 JP) with its own internal businesses. The proposed ownership level is "envisaged to be greater than 51%", up from 14.5% currently. Separately NSSMC said it would be acquiring Swedish engineering specialty steel maker Ovako (for "several tens of billions of yen" according to the Nikkei) by Sep 2018. SSS closed at ¥2744 on Friday, up 14.67%.
links to:
Travis' insight: Nippon Steel Aiming at Partial Tender of Sanyo Special Steel?
Mio's insight: Nippon Steel to Raise Stake in Sanyo Specialty to 51+% - Japan Steel Consolidation Kicking Off?
Celltrion Inc (068270 KS)(Mkt Cap: $38bn; Liquidity: $702mn)
Celltrion Holdings (96.99% held by Seo JungJin) announced a ₩200bn CB, divided into ₩94bn to be converted into common shares at ₩22,750,569; and ₩106bn to be converted into RCPSs with voting rights, at the same price of ₩22,750,569. That backs out a value of ₩6.825tn for Celltrion Holdings compared to its ₩8tn stake in Celltrion Inc. Furthermore, Celltrion Healthcare (091990 KS) shares have been pledged to these CBs. Clearly, the holder of the CBs is after Healthcare stock.
(link to Sanghyun's insight: Celltrion Holdings' ₩200bil CB with Celltrion Healthcare as Pledged Article - Questions to Ask)
Softbank Group (9984 JP) (Mkt Cap: $89.6bn; Liquidity: $443mn)
Softbank Group (9984 JP) announced it holds 5% of Charter Communication (CHTR US). Pelham Smithers views a bid for Charter is the obvious consequence of the failure to merge Sprint (S US) with T Mobile US (TMUS US).
(link to Pelham's insight: SoftBank (9984 JP) - Still Going After Charter (CHTR US)?)
SK Discovery Co Ltd (006120 KS) (Mkt Cap: $436mn; Liquidity: $11.4mn)
Sanghyun revisits the swap price determination period for SK Discovery, which will occur during Mar 19-21. The swap price for SK Chemicals Co Ltd/New (285130 KS) was finalized previously at ₩110,701 with a target offering of 3.5mn shares.
Upcoming event schedule | |
3-day swap price determination period for SK Discovery | Mar 19 - 21 |
Tendering period | Mar 26 - Apr 16 |
Settlement (payment) | Apr 18 |
Allocation | Apr 27 |
Listing | Apr 30 |
(link to Sanghyun's insight: SK Discovery & SK Chemicals Tender Offer - Arb Yield Calculations & Situation Update)
BGF Co Ltd (027410 KS)(Mkt Cap: $429mn; Liquidity: $7.1mn)
At the close of the swap results, 4,417,687 BGF Retail shares were tendered, resulting in 63,105,460 BGF shares offered, below the initial target of 74,080,686 shares, or a less than impressive tendering rate of 85.18%.
(link to Sanghyun's insight: BGF Stock Swap Results & Post Swap Market Movement Analysis)
Lotte Himart Co Ltd (071840 KS)(Mkt Cap: $1.6bn; Liquidity: $4mn)
Lotte announced a ₩303.6bn exchangeable bond (EB) Issuance with Lotte Himart. Lotte Shopping Co (023530 KS) owns a 65.25% stake (15,403,274 shares) in Lotte Himart. These EBs account for 14.98% of the total shares and 22.96% of the shares owned by Lotte Shopping. The maximum number of Himart shares that can be borrowed is 7.49% of the total number of issued shares and 11.48% of the shares owned by Lotte Shopping, according to Sanghyun.
The EB mirrors that of Lotte’s EB in Jan 2013. Back then, Himart reacted with a 4.78% immediate decline, but pretty much traded sideways despite strong short selling. Similarly, in Kakao’s EB issuance with Loen in 2016, Loen dropped 6.8% immediately but also moved sideways thereafter.
Himart declined 4.32% on Thursday and 0.42% on Friday. Not too dissimilar to the 2013 EB. There may be further downside as borrow is taken down; however, precedents do not indicate a material downside from here.
(link to Sanghyun's insight: Lotte Shopping ₩303.6bil EB Issuance with Lotte Himart Stock Lending Condition)
Very, very briefly ...
Television Broadcasts Ltd (511 HK)’s results are due out (aftermarket) on Wednesday. There is speculation of a special dividend following the collapse of its buyback. At the very least, the historical final dividend ($2/share) should be restored.
M&A |
Broadcom Limited (AVGO US) (Mkt Cap: $105bn; Liquidity: $917mn)
On the recommendation of The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS"), President Trump blocked the Broadcom Corp Cl A (BRCM US) / Qualcomm Inc (QCOM US) deal. “The proposed takeover of Qualcomm by the Purchaser is prohibited, and any substantially equivalent merger, acquisition, or takeover, whether affected directly or indirectly, is also prohibited”.
links to:
Antya's insight: Broadcom Limited – Undone by Its Conduct
Arun's insight: Intel: Broadcom Rumoured Bid Is More Bark than Bite
iKang Healthcare Group (ADR) (KANG US) (Mkt Cap: $1.3bn; Liquidity: $4.5mn)
After a bidding war stretching back to August 2015, Yunfeng Capital (Jack Ma's PE firm) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA US) have tabled a proposal to acquire iKang’s Class A shares, Class C shares, and ADSs in an all-cash transaction for US$20/ADS (or US$40/share). The announcement indicates a possible option for investors to roll over their stakes in iKang.
(link to Pranav’s insight: iKang: The Limbo Ends)
ING Life Insurance Korea Ltd. (079440 KS) (Mkt Cap: $3.5bn; Liquidity: $8.2mn)
Local media are reporting that ING Life Insurance Korea Ltd. (079440 KS) is up for sale and that Kb Financial Group Inc (105560 KS) and Shinhan Financial Group Ltd (055550 KS) are both conducting their final due diligence.
(link to Douglas’ insight: Korea M&A Spotlight: ING Life Insurance Korea (KB or Shinhan?)
INDEX REBALANCING |
On the 9th of March, MSCI announced that i) stakes of above 2% held by insurance companies in securities included in the MSCI Japan Equity Universe will be treated as non-free float. The threshold was previously set at 5%; and ii) stakes held by Sovereign Wealth Funds in securities classified in a domicile country of such fund will continue to be treated as non-free float. For shareholdings in securities classified in a non-domicile country, stakes of SWFs of above 7% will be treated as non-free float.
(link to Travis' insight: MSCI Rule Changes - ¥500bn Net Sell of Japan in May. Or Not..)
STUBS |
Hyosung Corporation (004800 KS) (Mkt Cap: $4.2bn; Liquidity: $23.8mn)
Reportedly the Korea Exchange has approved Hyosung Group's plans for the split-off of Hyosung Corporation (004800 KS). This spin-off involves splitting Hyosung Corp into Holdco (Hyosung Corp) and four other operating companies. Douglas discussed the split in his earlier insight: Hyosung's Transformation into a Holdco + Four Subsidiaries (Part 1).
(link to Douglas’ insight: Hyosung's Transformation into Holdco + Four Subsidiaries (Part 2): A Lot of Controversy)
Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN US) / Wynn Macau Ltd (1128 HK)
The WYNN and Universal Entertainment Corp (6425 JP) announced/settlement obviates the expected April start to a trial which has been in the pipeline since 2012 when WYNN forced the redemption of Aruze's 24.5mm shares in WYNN at a 30% discount. The timing of the Universal/Aruze settlement is clear management simply wanted to put this (litigation) behind them - it looks like Aruze settled for 60-70cts on the dollar.
(link to my insight: StubWorld - Wynn, Wheelock)
CCASS |
Large moves in CCASS holdings (> 10%) are often outside normal market transactions. These may be indicative of share pledges. Unfortunately, such pledges are not required to be disclosed. So I looked at thousands of such moves over the last couple of years and the results are interesting.
(link my insight: CCASS: Why Large Moves Matter. Read more)
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