Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

HK Type 4 license through Ballingal Investment Advisors Ltd. ("BIA" or "BIAL")

BACKGROUND
I have 20+yrs experience in Asia doing alternative strategies (i.e. non-delta1 non long-only) in fixed income, equity derivatives, and activist/catalyst/event-driven and long-short equity strategies with most of that time spent managing money. 

4 years in fixed income macro, 8 years running internal hedge fund and 4yrs investment banking at Citi in Japan, 3 years running an Asia multi-strat portfolio at a hedge fund, 4+yrs as an independent special situations analyst.

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

HCM – Profit Beat and Discussion of Hitachi Stake

Komatsu – Better Momentum than HCM in Americas and China

Hitachi's Capital Case - Liquidating Land & Policy Holdings? What About the Subs?

Hitachi Ltd. (6501 JP): Rapid & Effective Restructuring

Showa Denko Pays BIG MONEY for Hitachi Chem (4217)

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

Hitachi Construction Machinery / Event-Driven

Just as the lunch session started, the Nikkei came out with an <a href="https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO65359160T21C20A0MM0000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> and the English language <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Engineering-Construction/Hitachi-to-divest-some-of-its-Hitachi-Construction-shares" target="_blank" rel="noopener">version</a> came a half hour later. The main points:<ul>
<li>Hitachi "will sell" a part (up to half) its 51% stake in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hitachi-construction-machinery" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19433:1" rel="noopener">Hitachi Construction Machinery (6305 JP)</a>.</li>
<li>The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and others are looking at buying a stake.</li>
<li>The sale may be done at a discount.</li>
<li>There is passing mention of the effort to sell <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hitachi-metals-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8561:1" rel="noopener">Hitachi Metals (5486 JP)</a> as well. </li>
</ul>The stock fell like a rock - down 15% or more in high volume. Hitachi Metals fell 6%. <section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/167/032/original/Screenshot%202020-10-23%20at%209.10.21%20PM.png?1603458637" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="167032"></figure></section>A denial from the JIC (the parent of the INCJ) *JIC: NOT CONSIDERING INVESTING IN HITACHI CONSTRUCTION did not lead to a bounce in HCM shares. That is the key. The buyer doesn't matter. How the seller sells matters. This is interesting "news" and the reaction is telling. However, this headline comes just days before H1 earnings are due to be reported by HCM (27th October) and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hitachi-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:7797:1" rel="noopener">Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP)</a> (28th). The last time we got a headline like that was *HITACHI MULLS CUTTING CROSS SHAREHOLDINGS, SELLING PROPERTIES on 29 May. That Bloomberg headline turned out to be an unsubtle read of something in the small print of a large presentation deck shown later that day as part of the earnings call (discussed in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/hitachi-s-capital-case-liquidating-land-policy-holdings-what-about-the-subs" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:39920" rel="noopener">Hitachi's Capital Case - Liquidating Land &amp; Policy Holdings? What About the Subs?</a>). I expect the subject of this article to come up in the earnings discussion next week.  There are a couple ways to look at this and it is not clear that the takeaway is that one should be bullish HCM. But it is worthwhile thinking about the permutations.Discussion ensues.

Just as the lunch session started, the Nikkei came out with an article and the English language version came a half hour later. The main points:
Hitachi "will sell" a part (up to half) its 51% stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery (6305 JP).
The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and others are looking at buying a stake.
The sale may be done at a discount.
There is passing mention of the effort to sell Hitachi Metals (5486 JP) as well. 
The stock fell like a rock - down 15% or more in high volume. Hitachi Metals fell 6%. A denial from the JIC (the parent of the INCJ) *JIC: NOT CONSIDERING INVESTING IN HITACHI CONSTRUCTION did not lead to a bounce in HCM shares. That is the key. The buyer doesn't matter. How the seller sells matters. This is interesting "news" and the reaction is telling. However, this headline comes just days before H1 earnings are due to be reported by HCM (27th October) and Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP) (28th). The last time we got a headline like that was *HITACHI MULLS CUTTING CROSS SHAREHOLDINGS, SELLING PROPERTIES on 29 May. That Bloomberg headline turned out to be an unsubtle read of something in the small print of a large presentation deck shown later that day as part of the earnings call (discussed in Hitachi's Capital Case - Liquidating Land &amp; Policy Holdings? What About the Subs?). I expect the subject of this article to come up in the earnings discussion next week.  There are a couple ways to look at this and it is not clear that the takeaway is that one should be bullish HCM. But it is worthwhile thinking about the permutations.Discussion ensues.

Hitachi Construction Machinery

[Nikkei] Hitachi May Sell Down HCM Stake