Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

HK Type 4 license through Ballingal Investment Advisors Ltd. 

I'm a highly experienced sell-side analyst with in excess of 22 years of covering Asia Pacific equities, the past 19 years immersed in event strategies encompassing M&A risk arbitrage, directional long/short, stub trades and restructuring.  

My background also includes accountancy (liquidation/bankruptcy/receivership) earlier in my career and as a chief financial officer of a global commodity company based in the US and Mexico.

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Fuji (8278) & Maxvalu Nishinihon (8287): Merger Ratio Announced. Deal Done in 3 Months.

(Mostly) Asia M&A: September 2021 Roundup

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven


For the month of October, 18 new deals (firm and non-binding) were discussed on Smartkarma with an overall announced deal size of ~US$10bn.



Clicking on the company name in the table below will take you to the entity page where you can read the initial insight(s) written by Smartkarma contributors on these new deals and follow-up discussions, or simply click on the insight link(s) below the name.







New Deals


Industry


Size (US$bn)


Type


Premium




Australia




Apollo Consolidated (AOP AU) 
Gold
0.1
Off-market Takeover
27%


Ramelius (RMS AU) Adds Apollo To Its Portfolio



Aventus Group (AVN AU) 
Real estate
0.3
Scheme
N/A


HomeCo Daily Needs REIT (HDN AU) To Merge with Aventus (AVN AU) In Self-Takeunder



Cashrewards (CRW AU) 
Online shopping
0.1
Scheme
19.5%


Cashrewards (CRW AU)'s Offer Is 34% Below Last December's IPO



Class Ltd (CL1 AU) 
Cloud accounting
0.3
Scheme
71.6%


Class - Hub24: Scheme Trading Wide



Irongate Group (IAP AU) 
Real estate
0.7
Scheme
10%


Irongate (IAP AU): 360 Capital's Tilt Reminiscent Of ARA/Cromwell Stoush



Intega Group Ltd (ITG AU) 
Construction
0.3
Scheme
95%


Intega (ITG AU) Enters Scheme With Kiwa



Over the Wire Holdings Ltd (OTW AU) 
Telco/It provider
0.3
Scheme
15%


 Over The Wire (OTW AU): The Latest Aussie IT Play



Senex Energy (SXY AU) 
Gas producer
0.6
Off-market Takeover
40%


 Senex (SXY AU): Posco's Looming Offer



Hong Kong




Ausnutria Dairy Corp (1717 HK) 
Infant formula
0.7
MGO
13.67%


Yili's Pre-Conditional Offer &amp; Ausnutria (1717 HK)'s Crowded Register



Chinese Estates Holdings (127 HK) 
Real estate
0.3
Scheme
37.9%


Chinese Estates (127 HK): $4.00/Share Offer



Cp Pokphand (43 HK) 
Agri play
0.9
Scheme
19.79%


C.P. Pokphand (43 HK): Privatisation Offer From CP Foods



Dragon Crown Group (935 HK) 
Chemical storage
0.2
Pre-con Offer
8.475


Dragon Crown (935 HK)'s VGO Is A Done Deal



Yorkey Optical International Cayman (2788 HK) 
Optics
0.1
Scheme
54.4%



Yorkey Optical (2788 HK)'s Scheme: What Will Webb Do? Yorkey Optical (2788 HK): Webb Bumps... Will Asia Optical? Yorkey Optical (2788 HK): Time To Buy




Japan




Ebook Initiative Japan Co Ltd (3658 JP) 
Digital books
0.2
Tender Offer
4.6%


E-Book Initiative (3658 JP) Tender Offer Takeout - This One Needs Cowbell Too



Pipedo HD Inc (3919 JP) 
Info platform
0.1
Tender Offer
N/A


 Pipedo HD (3919 JP): Advantage Partners MBO




Singapore




ESR-REIT (EREIT SP) /ARA LOGOS (ALLT SP)

Property
1.0
Scheme
N/A


ARA Logos (ALLT SP) To Merge with ESR-REIT (EREIT SP)



Singapore Press Holdings (SPH SP) 
Conglomerate
2.5
Scheme
10%


SPH Lobang - Holders So Shiok, Bidders So Kiasu. This May Not Be The End



Taiwan




IBF Financial (2889 TT) / Entie Commercial Bank (2849 TT) 
Finance
1.2
Share swap
N/A


20-Oct: EnTie (2849 TT) - IBF (2889 TT): US$1.2bn Cash &amp; Scrip Deal Far From Done



Source: Smartkarma Insights






The average premium for the new deals announced (or first discussed) in October was ~30%, with a year-to-date average of ~32% (139 deals &amp; total deal size of US$259bn).
This compares to the average premium for all deals in 2020 (158 deals) and 2019 (145 deals) of 31% and 31.5% respectively.




Offer Premium Summary





     




2019


2020


2021 YTD



Australia
33.0%
32.4%
36.0%


Hong Kong
25.2%
34.7%
32.2%


Japan
44.0%
35.2%
27.4%


ROW
29.1%
24.2%
32.5%


Average
31.5%
31.1%
32.2%



Source: Smartkarma Insights









Summary of News in October of Arb Situations On Smartkarma's Radar



(Again, click on the company names to take to you to the insights and/or discussion posts for a more comprehensive read-through on each situation)






Australia


Comments (with links to announcements &amp; insights)




1300 Smiles Ltd (ONT AU) 

13-Oct Scheme Booklet registered with ASIC. Scheme meeting to be held on the 12 November.




5G Networks Ltd/Australia (5GN AU) / Webcentral (WCG AU) 

1-Oct: The Federal Court of Australia has approved the convening of Scheme Meeting and distribution of Scheme Booklet. The Scheme Meeting will be held virtually at 10:00am (Melbourne time) on Monday, 8 November 2021. Indicative Timeline is shown in the image below.




Afterpay Touch (APT AU) 

No October update




Ale Property (LEP AU) 

20-Oct: Ale Property (LEP AU) is suspended "pending release of a judgement of the Supreme Court of Victoria in relation to the 2018 Rent Determinations as advised by ASX announcement on 19 October 2021". Some background on this can be found on page 12 of the 2021 annual report. According to Philip Cheetham, Head Of Listed Investor Relations at Charter Hall Long Wale Reit (CLW AU):"The outcome of this litigation does not form a defeating condition or alter our bid for LEP."




Ausnet Services (AST AU) 

15-Oct: Ausnet Services (AST AU) announces that it proposes to engage with APA Group (APA AU) on its indicative, non-binding and conditional proposal. This follows the decision and final orders announced by the Takeovers Panel in response to the application previously submitted by APA.  25-Oct: Ausnet Services (AST AU) has announced that they have granted due diligence access to APA Group (APA AU) and have been granted reverse due diligence access.  29-Oct: AusNet (AST AU): ACCC Commences Informal Review




Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API AU) 

7-Oct: Pursuant to an undertaking agreement with Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (SOL AU), Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU) has now taken a 19.3% stake in Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API AU).




Empired Ltd (EPD AU) 

25-Oct: Empired Ltd (EPD AU) shareholders approved the Scheme. Implementation is the 16 November.




iCar Asia Ltd (ICQ AU) 

19-Oct: ICar (ICQ AU) &amp; Carsome Enter Into Scheme




Huon Aquaculture (HUO AU) 

29-Oct: Huon Aquaculture (HUO AU) shareholders overwhelmingly supported the Scheme. The implementation date is expected to be the 17 November. 




Japara Healthcare (JHC AU) 

21-Oct: Japara Healthcare (JHC AU) shareholders approve the Scheme. The implementation date is the 5 November. 




Oil Search Ltd (OSH AU) 

29-Oct: Oil Search Ltd (OSH AU)'s first court hearing is expected to take place on the 10 November in place of 27 October as previously announced. 




Rhipe Ltd (RHP AU) 

11-Oct: Rhipe Ltd (RHP AU)'s shareholders approve the Scheme. Shares to be suspended at the close of trading on the 14 October. 




Smartgroup Corp (SIQ AU) 

25-Oct: Smartgroup Corp (SIQ AU) have announced that the TPG and Potentia consortium have decided not to proceed with the acquisition at A$10.35/share and have revised their proposal to A$9.25/share.




Spark Infrastructure (SKI AU) 

21-Oct: Spark (SKI AU): Scheme Booklet Out. Meeting On The 22 November




Sydney Airport (SYD AU) 

7-Oct: Australia's ACCC is now seeking views on the proposed acquisition of Sydney Airport (SYD AU) by the Sydney Aviation Alliance. Responses are required to be submitted by the 28 October. 










Hong Kong


Comments (with links to announcements &amp; insights)




China Youzan Limited (8083 HK) 

1-Oct: The Offeror and China Youzan (8083 HK) announced they are preparing the Scheme doc.  20 Oct: Well, not quite yet. The despatch date has been pushed o the 31 December from 19 October previously. 




Golden Throat Holdings (6896 HK) 

29-Oct: Golden Throat (6896 HK): Scheme Doc Out. Court Meeting On 30 November




Nature Home Holding Company (2083 HK) 

14-Sep: Nature Home (2083 HK): Scheme Doc Out. Court Meeting On 6 Oct. Evergrande Overhang
28-Sep: Nature Home (2083 HK): Risk Aversity Sees Spread Blow Out




Suchuang Gas Corp (1430 HK) 

29-Oct: Suchuang Gas Corp (1430 HK)'s Scheme Doc has been delayed until the 29 December. 










India


Comments 




Adani Power (ADANI IN) 

No October update




Mphasis Ltd (MPHL IN) 

No October update










Japan


Comments (with links to announcements &amp; insights)




Ebook Initiative Japan Co Ltd (3658 JP) 

No October update




Hitachi Metals (5486 JP) 

No October update




Kansai Super Market (9919 JP) 

No October update




Maxvalu Nishinihon (8287 JP) / Fuji Co Ltd (8278 JP) 

No October update




Nippo Corp (1881 JP) 

7-Oct: The Nikkei (English and Japanese) is out with an article saying that ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP) has agreed to buy JRE from GS and GIC. 




Pipedo HD Inc (3919 JP) 

No October update




Shinsei Bank (8303 JP) 

21-Oct: Shinsei Objects to SBI Tender - Offers "Requirements" To Approve 27-Oct: Shinsei TOB: A Complicated Game of 🐓 Nobody Has Thought About?










Malaysia


Comments 




Daibochi Plastic &amp; Packaging Industry (DPP MK) 
15-Oct: The independent advisor recommends the unconditional offer for Daibochi Plastic &amp; Packaging Industry (DPP MK). 25-Oct: Daibochi (DPP MK)'s Offer has been extended to the 8 November. 



Ijm Plantations (IJMP MK) 
1 Oct: Ijm Plantations (IJMP MK)'s IFA recommends Offer to shareholders.  7-Oct: Ijm Plantations (IJMP MK)'s Offer has been extended to the 25 October.   25-Oct: Ijm Plantations (IJMP MK) extends the closing date of its Offer to the 18 November.



MMC Corp Bhd (MMC MK) 
No October update











Singapore Press Holdings

(Mostly) Asia M&A: October 2021 Roundup