Fintech & EM-focused Analyst, KT Capital Group

Alec Tseung

Fintech & EM-focused Analyst

KT Capital Group

Principal investments and advisory firm that focuses on connecting the CIS countries with East Asia.

Principal investments and advisory firm

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Given Pru's demerger in 2021, it now offers investors a good alternative to AIA to tap into the development and the growth potential of the life insurance sector in Pan-Asia.</li>
<li>AIA has a more balanced business across so many markets in APAC, while Pru skews toward Southeast Asia.</li>
<li>Pru's P/BV is currently at a 30% discount to AIA's and is trading at the same level as the year-end when China just announced the re-opening of its borders.</li>
</ul>


Given Pru's demerger in 2021, it now offers investors a good alternative to AIA to tap into the development and the growth potential of the life insurance sector in Pan-Asia.
AIA has a more balanced business across so many markets in APAC, while Pru skews toward Southeast Asia.
Pru's P/BV is currently at a 30% discount to AIA's and is trading at the same level as the year-end when China just announced the re-opening of its borders.


APAC Insurers Series (#2): AIA or Prudential?

IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/great-eastern-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13993:1" rel="noopener">Great Eastern Holdings (GE SP)</a> delisting resolution failed as it was not approved by at least 75% of disinterested shareholders.</li>
<li>The resumption of trading resolutions to restore the 10% free float requirement was passed. Trading will resume once the 10% free float requirement is met. </li>
<li>Minorities have secured a pyrrhic victory as the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/oversea-chinese-banking-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:114:1" rel="noopener">OCBC (OCBC SP)</a> offer was light, but there is no obvious catalyst to re-rate the shares. Deal break price around S$21.49.</li>
</ul>


The Great Eastern Holdings (GE SP) delisting resolution failed as it was not approved by at least 75% of disinterested shareholders.
The resumption of trading resolutions to restore the 10% free float requirement was passed. Trading will resume once the 10% free float requirement is met. 
Minorities have secured a pyrrhic victory as the OCBC (OCBC SP) offer was light, but there is no obvious catalyst to re-rate the shares. Deal break price around S$21.49.


Great Eastern Holdings (GE SP): Minorities Secure a Pyrrhic Victory

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

FWD Group Holdings / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fwd-group-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:34332:1" rel="noopener">FWD Group Holdings (1828 HK)</a>, a pan-Asian life insurer founded by Richard Li, raised around US$442m in its HK IPO.</li>
<li>FWD is a pan-Asia life insurer operating in ten markets including Hong Kong (and Macau), Thailand (and Cambodia), Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.</li>
<li>We looked at the company’s past performance and valuations in our previous notes. In this note we talk about the trading dynamics.</li>
</ul>



FWD Group Holdings (1828 HK), a pan-Asian life insurer founded by Richard Li, raised around US$442m in its HK IPO.
FWD is a pan-Asia life insurer operating in ten markets including Hong Kong (and Macau), Thailand (and Cambodia), Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
We looked at the company’s past performance and valuations in our previous notes. In this note we talk about the trading dynamics.


<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fwd-group-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:34332:1" rel="noopener">FWD Group</a>, a pan-Asian life insurer founded by Richard Li, aims to raise around US$442m in its HK IPO.</li>
<li>FWD is a pan-Asia life insurer operating in ten markets including Hong Kong (and Macau), Thailand (and Cambodia), Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.</li>
<li>We looked at the company’s past performance in our previous notes. In this note we talk about the IPO pricing.</li>
</ul>



FWD Group, a pan-Asian life insurer founded by Richard Li, aims to raise around US$442m in its HK IPO.
FWD is a pan-Asia life insurer operating in ten markets including Hong Kong (and Macau), Thailand (and Cambodia), Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
We looked at the company’s past performance in our previous notes. In this note we talk about the IPO pricing.


FWD IPO - Valuation Down but Its Difficult to Get Excited About It

Head of Research, Krungthai XSpring

Waraporn Wiboonkanarak

Head of Research

A full service Thai brokerage

Krungthai XSpring

Krungthai XSpring is a full service broker. The company provides a wide range of investment services such as Securities Brokerage, Derivative Agent Business, Securities Borrowing and Lending, Securities Trading, Underwriting, Financial Advisory, Wealth Advisory, Private Fund Management and International Markets Securities Trading. 

In terms of credibility, Fitch Ratings has assigned Krunghtai XSpring a long-term rating of AA- and a national short-term rating of F1+ with stable outlook.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The SET Index is expected to continue declining, with the support levels at 1,045/1,021 points and the resistance at 1,076/1,080 points.</li><li>From a technical perspective, the downtrend signal remains in place, and the index could fall as low as 969 points if it sharply breaks below this year’s low of 1,056.41 points (set on April 8).</li><li>External factors remain unclear, including the risk of war between Israel and Iran — most recently, the US has launched an attack on Iran — as well as concerns about a potential US trade tariff war and the Fed signaling that it will not rush to cut interest rates as the market had hoped. </li></ul>

The SET Index is expected to continue declining, with the support levels at 1,045/1,021 points and the resistance at 1,076/1,080 points.From a technical perspective, the downtrend signal remains in place, and the index could fall as low as 969 points if it sharply breaks below this year’s low of 1,056.41 points (set on April 8).External factors remain unclear, including the risk of war between Israel and Iran — most recently, the US has launched an attack on Iran — as well as concerns about a potential US trade tariff war and the Fed signaling that it will not rush to cut interest rates as the market had hoped. 

Thailand

Bangkok Life Assurance PCL offers life insurance services.

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Bangkok Life Assurance (BLA TB)

APAC Insurers Series (#2): AIA or Prudential?

Pru’s recent correction offers investors an opportune window to buy into its premium franchise (vs. AIA), although both stocks provide investors...

Alec Tseung

Great Eastern Holdings (GE SP): Minorities Secure a Pyrrhic Victory

Minorities have secured a pyrrhic victory as the OCBC (OCBC SP) offer was light, but there is no obvious catalyst to re-rate the shares. My...

Arun George

FWD IPO Trading - Tepid Demand

FWD Group Holdings (1828 HK), a pan-Asian life insurer founded by Richard Li, raised around US$442m in its HK IPO. In this note, we talk about the...

Sumeet Singh

FWD IPO - Valuation Down but Its Difficult to Get Excited About It

FWD Group, a pan-Asian life insurer founded by Richard Li, aims to raise around US$442m in its HK IPO. In this note, we talk about the IPO pricing.

Sumeet Singh

KTX Zoom - JUNE 23, 2025

The SET Index is expected to continue declining, with the support levels at 1,045/1,021 points and the resistance at 1,076/1,080 points.

Krungthai XSpring

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