Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Shifara Samsudeen, FCMA, CGMA

Equity Analyst

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Several news media outlets reported last week that Tencent has changed its M&amp;A strategy to obtain majority stakes in overseas gaming companies as opposed to buying minority stakes previously.</li>
<li>Tencent’s online game revenue declined YoY for two-consecutive quarters primarily due to decline in domestic game revenue that was impacted by absence of new game titles and minority protection rules.</li>
<li>Our analysis on Tencent’s game downloads and ranks reveal that both domestic and international game revenues would decline further in 3Q2022E.</li>
</ul>


Several news media outlets reported last week that Tencent has changed its M&amp;A strategy to obtain majority stakes in overseas gaming companies as opposed to buying minority stakes previously.
Tencent’s online game revenue declined YoY for two-consecutive quarters primarily due to decline in domestic game revenue that was impacted by absence of new game titles and minority protection rules.
Our analysis on Tencent’s game downloads and ranks reveal that both domestic and international game revenues would decline further in 3Q2022E.


Tencent Seeks Majority Stake in Overseas Game Companies as Game Revenue Slows Down Further

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

Lionheart Studio  / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lionheart-studio-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36417:1" rel="noopener">Lionheart Studio (426630 KS)</a>, a game development studio based in South Korea,  aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO.</li>
<li>The company is majority owned by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kakao-games-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26730:1" rel="noopener">Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS)</a>, which after having recently hiked its stake, owned 54.94% of the company prior to listing.  </li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the positive aspects of the deal.</li>
</ul>



Lionheart Studio (426630 KS), a game development studio based in South Korea,  aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO.
The company is majority owned by Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS), which after having recently hiked its stake, owned 54.94% of the company prior to listing.  
In this note, we will talk about the positive aspects of the deal.


Lion Heart Studio Pre-IPO - The Positives - Got One Hit

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

<ul>
<li>Our base case valuation of Lionheart Studio is a target price of 19,362 won per share, which is 46% lower than the low end of the IPO price range.</li>
<li>Our IPO valuation assumes a 7.2x EV/EBITDA (comps' average) using 2023 estimated EBITDA of 145 billion won for the company.</li>
<li>All in all, we believe there is a strong probability of Lionheart Studio being forced to lower its IPO price range in order to attract more investors. </li>
</ul>


Our base case valuation of Lionheart Studio is a target price of 19,362 won per share, which is 46% lower than the low end of the IPO price range.
Our IPO valuation assumes a 7.2x EV/EBITDA (comps' average) using 2023 estimated EBITDA of 145 billion won for the company.
All in all, we believe there is a strong probability of Lionheart Studio being forced to lower its IPO price range in order to attract more investors. 


Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Multiple new agencies have been reporting that <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent (700 HK)</a> plans to trim its investment portfolio over the remainder of the year. </li>
<li>The reports have been coming in since the second half of the year and the company has been duly denying these rumors.</li>
<li>In this note, we look at Tencent’s shareholding in various companies to try and gauge which ones it could sell out of and how.</li>
</ul>


Multiple new agencies have been reporting that Tencent (700 HK) plans to trim its investment portfolio over the remainder of the year. 
The reports have been coming in since the second half of the year and the company has been duly denying these rumors.
In this note, we look at Tencent’s shareholding in various companies to try and gauge which ones it could sell out of and how.


Tencent Investee Selldown - The US$120bn Global Overhang

Korea / Special Situations, Clepsydra Capital

Sanghyun Park

Korea / Special Situations

Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing

Clepsydra Capital

Investigate special situations, pairs, and index rebalancing trades in Korea.

<ul>
<li>SOCAR's institutional subscription rate was 56.97 to 1. It is highly unusual for an institutional competition rate to be this low among IPOs worth more than ₩1T.</li>
<li>SOCAR eventually set the price at ₩28,000 and reduced the offering volume from 4.55M to 3.64M, resulting in deal size of ₩100B at an implied market cap of ₩970B.</li>
<li>Since Lotte Rental's buying flow may be triggered earlier than expected, we may need to consider a swing trade if the price enters an oversold territory after listing.</li>
</ul>


SOCAR's institutional subscription rate was 56.97 to 1. It is highly unusual for an institutional competition rate to be this low among IPOs worth more than ₩1T.
SOCAR eventually set the price at ₩28,000 and reduced the offering volume from 4.55M to 3.64M, resulting in deal size of ₩100B at an implied market cap of ₩970B.
Since Lotte Rental's buying flow may be triggered earlier than expected, we may need to consider a swing trade if the price enters an oversold territory after listing.


SOCAR IPO: Order Table, Revised Terms, & Thinking Points

South Korea

Krafton, Inc. operates as a game development company. The Company develops console games, mobile games, computer games, and other related products. Krafton markets its products throughout South Korea.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Krafton (259960 KS)

Tencent Seeks Majority Stake in Overseas Game Companies as Game Revenue Slows Down Further

Tencent has been aggressively seeking to acquire majority stakes in overseas game developers. Our analysis on game downloads and ranks reveal that...

Shifara Samsudeen, FCMA, CGMA

Lion Heart Studio Pre-IPO - The Positives - Got One Hit

Lionheart Studio, a game development studio based in South Korea, aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO. The company is majority...

Sumeet Singh

Lionheart Studio IPO Valuation Analysis

Our base case valuation of Lionheart Studio is a target price of 19,362 won per share, which is 46% lower than the low end of the IPO price range.

Douglas Kim

Tencent Investee Selldown - The US$120bn Global Overhang

There have been multiple reports that Tencent (700 HK) plans to trim its investment portfolio over the remainder of the year. We look at Tencent's...

Sumeet Singh

SOCAR IPO: Order Table, Revised Terms, & Thinking Points

This post investigates SOCAR's order table in the bookbuilding and discusses the thinking points for post-listing trade.

Sanghyun Park

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)