Japanese Turnaround Situations, Short-Ideas, Azabu Research

Michael Allen

Japanese Turnaround Situations, Short-Ideas

Azabu Research

Azabu Research is a publishing and consulting firm focused on distressed equities in the Japanese market. We specialize in turnaround strategies, corporate combinations, divestitures, and restructuring.

Publisher of the Tokyo Turnaround Letter, which conducts the most thorough research possible of publicly available information, including forensic tests for fraudulent overstatement of assets and understatement of liabilities, as well as rigorous market and industry analysis to assess the underlying strengths of the company’s products or services, the appropriateness of the company’s turnaround strategy, and the skill of its current management team. The average length of a report exceeds 25 pages of text and tables, excluding any disclosures or executive summaries.

We have more than 30 years of experience in applying this process to distressed equities in Japan. Additionally, subscribers have free access to detailed, yet easily navigated earnings models for the target company as well as the top five comparable companies, and unlimited access to the analyst for follow-up questions.

Azabu Research also conducts be-spoke research on a project basis, and provides consulting services to companies looking to restructure, divest, make acquisitions, go public, or improve investor sentiment toward their stock.

Independent Research and Consulting Firm

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Japan’s defense budget may be set to surge by about 50%, making NOF’s ammunition business a hot theme.</li>
<li>Be careful though. NOF’s munitions segment faces production limits and slow capacity expansion, capping near-term profit growth even with new defense spending.</li>
<li>We think NOF is overvalued, even as we acknowledge consensus forecasts are probably too low. But shorting now would probably just be fighting the tape. Save this idea for later.</li>
</ul>


Japan’s defense budget may be set to surge by about 50%, making NOF’s ammunition business a hot theme.
Be careful though. NOF’s munitions segment faces production limits and slow capacity expansion, capping near-term profit growth even with new defense spending.
We think NOF is overvalued, even as we acknowledge consensus forecasts are probably too low. But shorting now would probably just be fighting the tape. Save this idea for later.


Shorting NOF (4403) Just Now Is Probably a Very Bad Idea

<ul>
<li>Japan’s chemicals industry is finally undergoing a long-overdue consolidation that should lead to fewer companies, higher profitability, and less volatility.</li>
<li>These changes may be driving significant mispricing. Like most segments, RoE drives most of the variance in PBR, but with more frequent and far larger outliers.</li>
<li>KH Neochem, Daicel, and Mitsui Chemicals are the undervalued outliers, and all three are positioned for rapid growth in our view.</li>
</ul>


Japan’s chemicals industry is finally undergoing a long-overdue consolidation that should lead to fewer companies, higher profitability, and less volatility.
These changes may be driving significant mispricing. Like most segments, RoE drives most of the variance in PBR, but with more frequent and far larger outliers.
KH Neochem, Daicel, and Mitsui Chemicals are the undervalued outliers, and all three are positioned for rapid growth in our view.


Long-Overdue Consolidation in Japanese Chemicals Drives Growth & Mispricing

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

JX Advanced Metals / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/jx-advanced-metals-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:44346:1" rel="noopener">JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)</a>’s parent, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/eneos-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:638:1" rel="noopener">ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP)</a>, raised around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM in its Japan IPO.</li>
<li>JXAM engages in business activities primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of materials made from copper and rare metals, which are used in the semiconductor and ICT fields.</li>
<li>We have covered various aspects of the deal in our previous notes. In this note, we will talk about the trading dynamics.</li>
</ul>



JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), raised around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM in its Japan IPO.
JXAM engages in business activities primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of materials made from copper and rare metals, which are used in the semiconductor and ICT fields.
We have covered various aspects of the deal in our previous notes. In this note, we will talk about the trading dynamics.


JX Advance Metals IPO Trading - Demand Wasn’t Great

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/jx-advanced-metals-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:44346:1" rel="noopener">JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)</a>’s parent, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/eneos-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:638:1" rel="noopener">ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP)</a>, is looking to raise around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM in its Japan IPO.</li>
<li>JXAM engages in business activities primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of materials made from copper and rare metals, which are used in the semiconductor and ICT fields.</li>
<li>We have covered various aspects of the deal in our previous notes. In this note, we will talk about the IPO pricing.</li>
</ul>



JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), is looking to raise around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM in its Japan IPO.
JXAM engages in business activities primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of materials made from copper and rare metals, which are used in the semiconductor and ICT fields.
We have covered various aspects of the deal in our previous notes. In this note, we will talk about the IPO pricing.


JX Advance Metals IPO - Digestable, but Not Really Attractive

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/jx-advanced-metals-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:44346:1" rel="noopener">JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)</a>’s parent,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/eneos-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:638:1" rel="noopener">ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP)</a>, is looking to raise around US$2.6bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM in its Japan IPO.</li>
<li>JXAM engages in business activities primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of materials made from copper and rare metals, which are used in the semiconductor and ICT fields.</li>
<li>We looked at the company’s past performance and undertook a peer comparison in our previous note. In this note, we talk about valuations.</li>
</ul>



JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent,  ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), is looking to raise around US$2.6bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM in its Japan IPO.
JXAM engages in business activities primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of materials made from copper and rare metals, which are used in the semiconductor and ICT fields.
We looked at the company’s past performance and undertook a peer comparison in our previous note. In this note, we talk about valuations.


JX Advance Metals Pre-IPO - Thoughts on Valuation

Japan

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation is a holding company established through the merger of Mitsubishi Chemical and Mitsubishi Pharma.  The Company manages operation of its subsidiaries.

Price Gauge
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Mitsubishi Chemical (4188 JP)

Shorting NOF (4403) Just Now Is Probably a Very Bad Idea

Japan's defense budget increase may boost NOF's ammunition business, but production limits and slow capacity expansion could hinder profit growth....

Michael Allen

Long-Overdue Consolidation in Japanese Chemicals Drives Growth & Mispricing

Consolidation in Japan's chemicals industry leading to fewer companies, higher profitability, and potential for growth in undervalued outliers...

Michael Allen

JX Advance Metals IPO Trading - Demand Wasn’t Great

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), raised around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM. In this...

Sumeet Singh

JX Advance Metals IPO - Digestable, but Not Really Attractive

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), is looking to raise around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in...

Sumeet Singh

JX Advance Metals Pre-IPO - Thoughts on Valuation

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), is looking to raise around US$2.6bn in its Japan IPO. In this note, we talk about...

Sumeet Singh

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Shorting NOF (4403) Just Now Is Probably a Very Bad Idea

​Japan's defense budget increase may boost NOF's ammunition business, but production limits and slow capacity expansion could hinder profit growth....

Michael Allen

Long-Overdue Consolidation in Japanese Chemicals Drives Growth & Mispricing

​Consolidation in Japan's chemicals industry leading to fewer companies, higher profitability, and potential for growth in undervalued outliers...

Michael Allen

JX Advance Metals IPO Trading - Demand Wasn’t Great

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), raised around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in JXAM. In this...

Sumeet Singh

JX Advance Metals IPO - Digestable, but Not Really Attractive

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), is looking to raise around US$2.5bn via selling more than half of its stake in...

Sumeet Singh

JX Advance Metals Pre-IPO - Thoughts on Valuation

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP)’s parent, ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), is looking to raise around US$2.6bn in its Japan IPO. In this note, we talk about...

Sumeet Singh

Japan's defense budget increase may boost NOF's ammunition business, but production limits and slow capacity expansion could hinder profit growth....

Consolidation in Japan's chemicals industry leading to fewer companies, higher profitability, and potential for growth in undervalued outliers...