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).

Snippets #41: New Thai-Coons of 2020, Mexican Oil

Mechanics and Details of the CP Group-Tesco Deal

Gone With the Wind: Wind Farms Facing Headwinds

PTTEP: Possible Earnings Recovery by 3Q20

PTTEP: 1Q20 Results Above Our Expectation

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).

Event-Driven

Uawithya has requested shareholder approval to divest three of its renewable power subsidiaries at bargain basement prices. One of the worst investments in our portfolio (down over 60%), these are some of the deal's key points:<ul>
<li>
Business. The founding family has long sold out the current group, the Leenbanjong family. Management argues that since they lack expertise in renewables, they should divest them and refocus on the original business in telecom towers and industrial products trading while also reducing debt.</li>
<li>
The Deal. UWC will sell three subsidiaries (UKB, UAB, and SBM) to ACE for less than Bt200m and well as shareholder loans from UWC for Bt150m, netting a loss of Bt520m.</li>
<li>
The independent advice. Capital Advantage values the three businesses at Bt449m. At that price, the impairment would only be Bt116m, and some Bt360m of debts could be paid down.</li>
<li>
Our Take. While we agree that with the divestment conceptually if management is no longer confident of their own expertise, we think they should do a better job on pricing, so we rejected the deal in hopes that they would hold out for a better price from ACE.</li>
</ul>

Uawithya has requested shareholder approval to divest three of its renewable power subsidiaries at bargain basement prices. One of the worst investments in our portfolio (down over 60%), these are some of the deal's key points:

Business. The founding family has long sold out the current group, the Leenbanjong family. Management argues that since they lack expertise in renewables, they should divest them and refocus on the original business in telecom towers and industrial products trading while also reducing debt.

The Deal. UWC will sell three subsidiaries (UKB, UAB, and SBM) to ACE for less than Bt200m and well as shareholder loans from UWC for Bt150m, netting a loss of Bt520m.

The independent advice. Capital Advantage values the three businesses at Bt449m. At that price, the impairment would only be Bt116m, and some Bt360m of debts could be paid down.

Our Take. While we agree that with the divestment conceptually if management is no longer confident of their own expertise, we think they should do a better job on pricing, so we rejected the deal in hopes that they would hold out for a better price from ACE.


Mechanics and Details of the Uawithya Subsidiaries Divestment

Ua Withya PCL

Mechanics and Details of the Uawithya Subsidiaries Divestment