AlphaSituations-Event/Catalyst Driven Research, AlphaSituations

Robert Sassoon

Robert Sassoon has been an equity analyst for more than twenty years focusing primarily on global special situations. Robert has worked in research for several large sell-side institutions, including Credit Suisse, Natwest Capital Markets and Societe Generale. During his career, he has achieved top 5 rankings in various analyst surveys, including the Extel and Greenwich surveys.

In 2017, Robert founded AlphaSituations, an idea-generating investment research service with the goal of delivering a unique portfolio of ideas to drive client growth and returns by uncovering compelling and highly profitable value propositions as well as lucrative shorter-term trading situations arising from select dislocating corporate restructuring events and catalysts. Currently, the main geographical focus of the research is North America. Since its establishment, AlphaSituations has delivered a track record of outperformance with a hit rate of winners of more than 70% of its portfolio of ideas generating annualized average returns of 20%.

In January 2022, AlphaSituations was contracted  by Water Tower Research,  an investor engagement and stakeholder communication platform to provide coverage of Special Situations.

AlphaSituations-Event/Catalyst Driven Research

MergerTalk: Thoughts On Today's Disclosure-Why It Is Not The Deal Killer The Market May Think It Is

51job’s Privatisation: Firm Offer Is Still The Wrong Price

51job's Buyout: Offer Price Unchanged In Updated Proposal

AlphaSituations

Since its establishment, AlphaSituations has delivered a track record of outperformance with a hit rate of winners of more than 70% of its portfolio of ideas generating annualized average returns of 20%. In January 2022, AlphaSituations was contracted by Water Tower Research, an investor engagement and stakeholder communication platform to provide coverage of Special Situations

Event-Driven

Among the universe of live M&amp;A deals we monitor (US M&amp;A deals of  &gt;$400MN), which we list below,  there are several deals where the prevailing spread  is above 10% offering  the potential for very  annualized returns  of &gt;50% based on their targeted closing dates.  Usually when the market is offering IRRs of that magnitude, it is indicating there is a high risk that those deals do not complete at all or, if they do,  under revised terms that are less favorable to the target company shareholders or that there is significant timing risk not originally anticipated. When it comes to spreads, Mr. Market may be right more often than not, but most definitely not always. These situations may not be that common, but it is those misunderstood situations which  provides some that we at AlphaSituations attempt to identify. <h3>The Search For Compelling Spreads</h3><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/237/378/original/image_82700697241635169253114.png?1635169255" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="237378"></figure>Source: AlphaSituations In the list above , the stand out spread remains the Wise Road Capital/ <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/magnachip-semiconductor-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28052:1" rel="noopener">MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp (MX US)</a> situation. This is one we have covered in previous insights, most recently in our June 29, 2021 publication: MergerTalk: Intriguing US Merger Spreads - Why Magnachip Semiconductor is at the top of our list. Since that Insight, CFIUS did initially block the deal on national security grounds (or at least left it to President Biden to decide), but subsequently agreed to the transactional parties request to withdraw and re-file their submission  in order to permit further discussion with CFIUS concerning potential options for permanently mitigating risks to the US national security that have been identified by CFIUS. This triggered a new CFIUS review period for the merger  commencing on September 14, 2021 which is expected to conclude no later than October 28, 2021. With that date only a few days away (although CFIUS has the option to extend this review process by undertaking a 45-day investigation), given the ~61% spread, the market is clearly dismissing the prospect that CFIUS will change its stance the second time around. Nevertheless, we  maintain that MX has a fundamental safety net at its current valuation (further supported by the strong 3Q 2021 earnings reported on October 25, 2021  and could remain a buyout target should the Wise Road transaction be ultimately  blocked. We will continue to monitor this situation.In this insight, we focus  on another more intriguing spreads - the Garnet Faith/  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/51-job-inc-adr" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:532:1" rel="noopener">51 Job Inc Adr (JOBS US)</a>  merger transaction, which also has a China theme to it. Below, we explore the reasons for the wide spread and assess the risks. We conclude that the odds remain heavily in favor of deal consummation with the current ~24% spread offering a lucrative entry point for arbs.

Among the universe of live M&amp;A deals we monitor (US M&amp;A deals of  &gt;$400MN), which we list below,  there are several deals where the prevailing spread  is above 10% offering  the potential for very  annualized returns  of &gt;50% based on their targeted closing dates.  Usually when the market is offering IRRs of that magnitude, it is indicating there is a high risk that those deals do not complete at all or, if they do,  under revised terms that are less favorable to the target company shareholders or that there is significant timing risk not originally anticipated. When it comes to spreads, Mr. Market may be right more often than not, but most definitely not always. These situations may not be that common, but it is those misunderstood situations which  provides some that we at AlphaSituations attempt to identify. The Search For Compelling SpreadsSource: AlphaSituations In the list above , the stand out spread remains the Wise Road Capital/ MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp (MX US) situation. This is one we have covered in previous insights, most recently in our June 29, 2021 publication: MergerTalk: Intriguing US Merger Spreads - Why Magnachip Semiconductor is at the top of our list. Since that Insight, CFIUS did initially block the deal on national security grounds (or at least left it to President Biden to decide), but subsequently agreed to the transactional parties request to withdraw and re-file their submission  in order to permit further discussion with CFIUS concerning potential options for permanently mitigating risks to the US national security that have been identified by CFIUS. This triggered a new CFIUS review period for the merger  commencing on September 14, 2021 which is expected to conclude no later than October 28, 2021. With that date only a few days away (although CFIUS has the option to extend this review process by undertaking a 45-day investigation), given the ~61% spread, the market is clearly dismissing the prospect that CFIUS will change its stance the second time around. Nevertheless, we  maintain that MX has a fundamental safety net at its current valuation (further supported by the strong 3Q 2021 earnings reported on October 25, 2021  and could remain a buyout target should the Wise Road transaction be ultimately  blocked. We will continue to monitor this situation.In this insight, we focus  on another more intriguing spreads - the Garnet Faith/  51 Job Inc Adr (JOBS US)  merger transaction, which also has a China theme to it. Below, we explore the reasons for the wide spread and assess the risks. We conclude that the odds remain heavily in favor of deal consummation with the current ~24% spread offering a lucrative entry point for arbs.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. (600000 CH)

MergerTalk: Intriguing US Merger Spreads-A 23% Spread, But Odds on 51job.com Privatization Completes