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.

Event-Driven

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) / Event-Driven

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) (8306 JP)

<ul>
<li>Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding notes, in this note we look at <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsubishi-ufj-financial-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:218:1" rel="noopener">Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) (8306 JP)</a>’s cross-shareholding.</li>
<li>MUFG had a stake over US$100m in at least 47 listed Japanese stocks, amounting to a total of around US$19bn.</li>
<li>In this note, we take a look at its stakes in various companies to see which ones could possibly be candidates for further selldowns.</li>
</ul>


Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding notes, in this note we look at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) (8306 JP)’s cross-shareholding.
MUFG had a stake over US$100m in at least 47 listed Japanese stocks, amounting to a total of around US$19bn.
In this note, we take a look at its stakes in various companies to see which ones could possibly be candidates for further selldowns.


MUFG Cross-Shareholding - At Least US$20bn of Cross-Shareholding to Sell, Taking It Slow

Pan-Asia Tactical Market Calls (Quant-Driven), MRM Research

Nico Rosti

Pan-Asia Tactical Market Calls (Quant-Driven)

MRM Research

Quantitative Research

Equity Derivatives

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan ETF / Equity Derivatives

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan ETF (AAXJ US)

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan ETF

<ul>
<li>
Decay Analysis: Australia (+3.9) and Taiwan (+1.4) show the strongest positive momentum. Tech/Semis (-1.0) and Industrials (-0.8) show the most significant performance exhaustion.</li>
<li>
All listed sectors are currently generating negative IR vs. AAXJ in both windows (2yr/26w), suggesting a highly concentrated benchmark performance or significant cap-weighted drag from the broader indices.</li>
<li>
Tactical: Prioritize high-momentum/high-IR regions (Taiwan/Australia) for overweights, and persistent negative IR regions (India) for underweights.</li>
</ul>



Decay Analysis: Australia (+3.9) and Taiwan (+1.4) show the strongest positive momentum. Tech/Semis (-1.0) and Industrials (-0.8) show the most significant performance exhaustion.

All listed sectors are currently generating negative IR vs. AAXJ in both windows (2yr/26w), suggesting a highly concentrated benchmark performance or significant cap-weighted drag from the broader indices.

Tactical: Prioritize high-momentum/high-IR regions (Taiwan/Australia) for overweights, and persistent negative IR regions (India) for underweights.


Pan-Asia Radar: What's Outperforming MSCI AC Asia Ex-JP (AAXJ US), What's Crowding | Apr 6–Apr 10

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Asia ex-Japan funds returned 29.4% in 2025, with a tight dispersion and a few standout performers above 40%.</li>
<li>Tech and North Asia dominated returns, while India's flat performance created significant fund-level differentiation.</li>
<li>Relative performance was shaped by stock selection in Korea and Taiwan, offset by cash drag and missteps in India and Indonesia.</li>
</ul>


Asia ex-Japan funds returned 29.4% in 2025, with a tight dispersion and a few standout performers above 40%.
Tech and North Asia dominated returns, while India's flat performance created significant fund-level differentiation.
Relative performance was shaped by stock selection in Korea and Taiwan, offset by cash drag and missteps in India and Indonesia.


A High-Return Year for Asia Ex-Japan: What Drove Performance?

Consumer Analyst / Channel Surveillance Specialist, Trudence Capital Advisors

Pranav Bhavsar

Consumer Analyst / Channel Surveillance Specialist

Trudence Capital Advisors

Trudence Capital Advisors Private Limited is a SEBI-registered Research Analyst, holding SEBI registration number INH000015747. Our firm is dedicated to providing independent and unbiased research on Indian mid to large-cap companies. Trudence Capital is known for its counter-consensus views, with a focus on forensic research and on-ground primary investigations. Our research approach is thorough, involving detailed analysis of accounting practices and governance, alongside extensive channel checks.

Independent & Unbiased Research

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>We analyse markets of South Korea, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, China, Europe, and the US to study extreme dispersion, extracting repeatable, factor-driven signals beyond macro growth narrative.
</li>
<li>Across these markets, returns were driven by earnings inflection, ROE improvement, and cash-flow recovery; stability, defensiveness, and high quality without momentum underperformed.</li>
<li>
Cyclicality and operating leverage outperformed, while revenue growth mattered only when converting into earnings and cash, reinforcing bottom-up capital allocation over GDP-led narratives.</li>
</ul>


We analyse markets of South Korea, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, China, Europe, and the US to study extreme dispersion, extracting repeatable, factor-driven signals beyond macro growth narrative.

Across these markets, returns were driven by earnings inflection, ROE improvement, and cash-flow recovery; stability, defensiveness, and high quality without momentum underperformed.

Cyclicality and operating leverage outperformed, while revenue growth mattered only when converting into earnings and cash, reinforcing bottom-up capital allocation over GDP-led narratives.


<ul>
<li>China dominates allocations, India and Taiwan are equal 2nd, while South Korea lags a further 7% behind after seeing a big drop in exposure.</li>
<li>Indonesia leads the ASEAN region, emerging as the top overweight country as a record 79.8% of funds are ahead of the benchmark.</li>
<li>India sees 62% underweight the benchmark. Vietnam hits new highs in average fund weight (0.97%) and fund participation (34%).</li>
</ul>


China dominates allocations, India and Taiwan are equal 2nd, while South Korea lags a further 7% behind after seeing a big drop in exposure.
Indonesia leads the ASEAN region, emerging as the top overweight country as a record 79.8% of funds are ahead of the benchmark.
India sees 62% underweight the benchmark. Vietnam hits new highs in average fund weight (0.97%) and fund participation (34%).


Asia Ex-Japan Funds:  Country Positioning Update

United States

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan ETF is an exchange-traded fund incorporated in the USA. The ETF seeks investment results that correspond to the  price and yield performance of the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index. The MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index offers exposure to stocks from Asian countries excluding Japan.

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan ETF (AAXJ US)

MUFG Cross-Shareholding - At Least US$20bn of Cross-Shareholding to Sell, Taking It Slow

Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding notes, in this note we look at MUFG (8306 JP)’s cross-shareholding. MUFG had a stake of over US$100m...

Sumeet Singh

Pan-Asia Radar: What's Outperforming MSCI AC Asia Ex-JP (AAXJ US), What's Crowding | Apr 6–Apr 10

Pan-Asia Radar: weekly snapshot - risk-adjusted excess returns across Asian markets/sectors vs iShares MSCI AC Asia ex Japan ETF (AAXJ). Updated...

Nico Rosti

A High-Return Year for Asia Ex-Japan: What Drove Performance?

Asia ex-Japan funds returned 29.4% in 2025, driven by tech and North Asia. A few standout names led gains, while India’s flat returns created sharp...

Steven Holden

2025 Learnings | Short the Stagnant

Analysis of across markets showed that earnings inflection, ROE improvement, and cash-flow recovery drove returns, highlighting the importance of...

Pranav Bhavsar

Asia Ex-Japan Funds: Country Positioning Update

China dominates allocations, India and Taiwan are equal 2nd, while South Korea lags a further 7% behind after seeing a big drop in exposure.

Steven Holden

MUFG Cross-Shareholding - At Least US$20bn of Cross-Shareholding to Sell, Taking It Slow

Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding notes, in this note we look at MUFG (8306 JP)’s cross-shareholding. MUFG had a stake of over US$100m...

Sumeet Singh

Pan-Asia Radar: What's Outperforming MSCI AC Asia Ex-JP (AAXJ US), What's Crowding | Apr 6–Apr 10

Pan-Asia Radar: weekly snapshot - risk-adjusted excess returns across Asian markets/sectors vs iShares MSCI AC Asia ex Japan ETF (AAXJ). Updated...

Nico Rosti

A High-Return Year for Asia Ex-Japan: What Drove Performance?

Asia ex-Japan funds returned 29.4% in 2025, driven by tech and North Asia. A few standout names led gains, while India’s flat returns created sharp...

Steven Holden

2025 Learnings | Short the Stagnant

​Analysis of across markets showed that earnings inflection, ROE improvement, and cash-flow recovery drove returns, highlighting the importance of...

Pranav Bhavsar

Asia Ex-Japan Funds: Country Positioning Update

China dominates allocations, India and Taiwan are equal 2nd, while South Korea lags a further 7% behind after seeing a big drop in exposure.

Steven Holden

Analysis of across markets showed that earnings inflection, ROE improvement, and cash-flow recovery drove returns, highlighting the importance of...