Insight Provider, CrossASEAN Research

Nicolas Van Broekhoven

Was on the buyside for 15 years, most recently at a medium-sized boutique asset management firm. I grew up in Europe, went to university in the US and have been living in Singapore for the last 7 years which has given me a broad scope on the world and investing in general.

Consider myself a generalist investor with a preference for small and mid-cap companies and special situations. However, a large cap that has gone temporarily out of favor might also pique my interest. 

My style of investing could be categorized as more of value investor, rather than growth at any cost. Learning from Charlie Munger on the importance of quality of a company has been of tremendous value over the years.I like businesses with real earnings, cash flows, dividends, book value and insider ownership.

Insight Provider

The Week that Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma - PNB, Salty Thailand, and Indonesia's Economy

Sunpower: Excellent FY18 Results; Strong Outlook for FY19. Fair Value Remains 1 SGD (70% Upside)

AGM Sunpower: Green Investments (GI) To Drive Re-Rating Going Forward; Remains Top Pick for 2019

Sunpower: Full Force Ahead in Green Investments with Continued Backing of Top Chinese PE Funds

EGM Sunpower: 100% of Shareholders Approve Additional CB Investment; Growth to Accelerate in 2H18

Sunpower (SPWG SP): Trying to Make Sense of the Flash-Crash

CrossASEAN Research

At CrossASEAN Research we strive to produce unbiased and differentiated on the ground insights on companies across South East Asia. Our Research is produced for the most part after face to face meetings and conversations with company management to dig deep into the long term vision and strategy of the companies we cover. We seek to deliver investable and actionable themes on sectors and markets across SE Asia, often in collaboration with other Insight Providers across the region, pooling the vast experience of the analysts within the Smartkarma Ecosystem. We also offer bespoke work and tailor made trips for our clients. 

Insights across South East Asia

Equity Bottom-Up

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/18395" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18395:1">Sunpower Group (SPWG SP)</a> reported its 3Q18 results which showed impressive progress on its GI portfolio. Only 12 months ago the company had zero contribution from this division and in the last quarter it made up 58% of company EBITDA.
The outlook for Sunpower going into 2019 is very positive with management clearly guiding for an even better 4Q18 as the Yongxing plant (acquisition closed in September) would be contributing a full quarter. 
While operationally everything is going great the two largest shareholders of the company decided to score an own goal as they pledged a small percentage of their shares to America2030 in exchange for a loan.
The pledging of the shares was truly Amateur Hour and cannot be repeated for management to retain any credibility with investors. While in our last insight on November 1st we were unsure what caused the flash crash we now know this was the reason.
I am willing to give the management the benefit of the doubt as it seems to have been an honest, yet very costly, mistake that shaved over 100M SGD of its market cap with zero benefits to the company and its shareholders. 
Sunpower had been building up trust among the investor community but the share pledge debacle means it will now have to work twice as hard to regain its CG credibility.
Fair Value of 1 SGD (+150% upside) remains unchanged (based on 15x FY21 fully diluted NPAT estimate).

Sunpower Group (SPWG SP) reported its 3Q18 results which showed impressive progress on its GI portfolio. Only 12 months ago the company had zero contribution from this division and in the last quarter it made up 58% of company EBITDA.
The outlook for Sunpower going into 2019 is very positive with management clearly guiding for an even better 4Q18 as the Yongxing plant (acquisition closed in September) would be contributing a full quarter. 
While operationally everything is going great the two largest shareholders of the company decided to score an own goal as they pledged a small percentage of their shares to America2030 in exchange for a loan.
The pledging of the shares was truly Amateur Hour and cannot be repeated for management to retain any credibility with investors. While in our last insight on November 1st we were unsure what caused the flash crash we now know this was the reason.
I am willing to give the management the benefit of the doubt as it seems to have been an honest, yet very costly, mistake that shaved over 100M SGD of its market cap with zero benefits to the company and its shareholders. 
Sunpower had been building up trust among the investor community but the share pledge debacle means it will now have to work twice as hard to regain its CG credibility.
Fair Value of 1 SGD (+150% upside) remains unchanged (based on 15x FY21 fully diluted NPAT estimate).

Sunpower (SPWG SP): Stellar 3Q18 Results Highlight Value of GI and Help Recovery from Flash Crash