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

<ul>
<li>SK Square is looking to raise around US$198m via selling 2.1% of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/krafton-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28956:1" rel="noopener">Krafton (259960 KS).</a>
</li>
<li>The stock has been doing well over the past few months and its earnings and price momentum remain strong.</li>
<li>In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the recent updates.</li>
</ul>


SK Square is looking to raise around US$198m via selling 2.1% of Krafton (259960 KS).

The stock has been doing well over the past few months and its earnings and price momentum remain strong.
In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the recent updates.


Krafton Placement - Stock Has Been Doing Well, Momentum Remains Strong

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

<ul>
<li>On 5 June, Shift Up announced that it will be postponing its IPO to July. The original book building period for the institutional investors was from 3 to 13 June.  </li>
<li>The final book building date has been postponed to 27 June. The subsequent public offering subscription for general investors was also postponed to 2 to 3 July.</li>
<li>A major investment positive of Shift Up is enormous initial success of Stellar Blade which was the best selling game in the U.S. and numerous other countries in April 2024. </li>
</ul>


On 5 June, Shift Up announced that it will be postponing its IPO to July. The original book building period for the institutional investors was from 3 to 13 June.  
The final book building date has been postponed to 27 June. The subsequent public offering subscription for general investors was also postponed to 2 to 3 July.
A major investment positive of Shift Up is enormous initial success of Stellar Blade which was the best selling game in the U.S. and numerous other countries in April 2024. 


Shift Up Delays the IPO and Stellar Blade Tops Number One Game in the US in April

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>One of the big thematic events on the Korean stock market has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean popular culture (Hallyu) as early as May 2025. </li>
<li>China's President Xi recently stated "Cultural exchanges are a valuable part of our bilateral relations [between China and Korea]. We should avoid any problems occurring in handling such matters.” 
</li>
<li>We provide a list of 40 stocks in Korea that could most benefit from the end of lifting ban of Korean popular culture. </li>
</ul>


One of the big thematic events on the Korean stock market has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean popular culture (Hallyu) as early as May 2025. 
China's President Xi recently stated "Cultural exchanges are a valuable part of our bilateral relations [between China and Korea]. We should avoid any problems occurring in handling such matters.” 

We provide a list of 40 stocks in Korea that could most benefit from the end of lifting ban of Korean popular culture. 


China Could Lift Ban on Korean Popular Culture (Hallyu) As Early As May 2025

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>The review period for the March rebalance ended on 31 January, changes will be announced first week of March and implemented at the close of trading on 13 March.</li>
<li>We forecast two changes for the Bio Index and one change for the Internet Index. Plus there will be capping changes for all indices.</li>
<li>The largest flows will be in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-sdi-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:503:1" rel="noopener">Samsung SDI</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lg-energy-solution" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33464:1" rel="noopener">LG Energy Solution</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/posco-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:208:1" rel="noopener">POSCO Holdings</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alteogen-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15886:1" rel="noopener">Alteogen</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/naver-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16029:1" rel="noopener">Naver Corp</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/legochem-biosciences-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19803:1" rel="noopener">Legochem Biosciences</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/netmarble-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22839:1" rel="noopener">Netmarble</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/celltrion-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:991:1" rel="noopener">Celltrion Inc</a>.</li>
</ul>


The review period for the March rebalance ended on 31 January, changes will be announced first week of March and implemented at the close of trading on 13 March.
We forecast two changes for the Bio Index and one change for the Internet Index. Plus there will be capping changes for all indices.
The largest flows will be in Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution, POSCO Holdings, Alteogen, Naver Corp, Legochem Biosciences, Netmarble and Celltrion Inc.


KRX New Deal Index Rebalance Preview: Smaller Deal Than Usual

<ul>
<li>Samsung Electronics announced that it will revamp its executive compensation system to include treasury shares as incentives. Samsung has benchmarked TSMC in terms of paying treasury shares to its employees.</li>
<li>Samsung Electronics' decision to revamp its executive compensation system to include treasury shares as incentives aligns the interests of the shareholders along with the company's management.</li>
<li>Now that Samsung Electronics has incorporated stock based incentive system, it is likely that other Korean companies that could follow suit. </li>
</ul>


Samsung Electronics announced that it will revamp its executive compensation system to include treasury shares as incentives. Samsung has benchmarked TSMC in terms of paying treasury shares to its employees.
Samsung Electronics' decision to revamp its executive compensation system to include treasury shares as incentives aligns the interests of the shareholders along with the company's management.
Now that Samsung Electronics has incorporated stock based incentive system, it is likely that other Korean companies that could follow suit. 


Samsung Electronics: Revamping Executive Compensation to Include Stocks - Benchmarking TSMC

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.

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Krafton (259960 KS)

Krafton Placement - Stock Has Been Doing Well, Momentum Remains Strong

SK Square is looking to raise around US$198m via selling 2.1% of Krafton (259960 KS). In this note, we talk about the deal dyanmics and run it...

Sumeet Singh

Shift Up Delays the IPO and Stellar Blade Tops Number One Game in the US in April

Shift Up announced that it will be postponing its IPO to July. A major investment positive is the enormous initial success of Stellar Blade which...

Douglas Kim

China Could Lift Ban on Korean Popular Culture (Hallyu) As Early As May 2025

One of the big thematic events that have impacted the Korean stock market this week has been the expectation that China could lift ban on Korean...

Douglas Kim

KRX New Deal Index Rebalance Preview: Smaller Deal Than Usual

Indications are for a smaller rebalance than usual as index performance suffers and AUM continues to shrink. There are some constituent changes...

Brian Freitas

Samsung Electronics: Revamping Executive Compensation to Include Stocks - Benchmarking TSMC

Samsung Electronics announced it will revamp its executive compensation system to include treasury shares as incentives, better aligning the...

Douglas Kim

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