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>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sk-hynix-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16955:1" rel="noopener">SK Hynix (000660 KS)</a> (SKH), a leading global memory producer, aims to raise over US$10bn via an ADR listing.</li>
<li>SKH has confidentially filed for an ADR issuance which could see it potentially launch a raising in July 2026, as per media reports.</li>
<li>In this note, we look at its past performance and other deal dynamics that might impact the listing.</li>
</ul>



SK Hynix (000660 KS) (SKH), a leading global memory producer, aims to raise over US$10bn via an ADR listing.
SKH has confidentially filed for an ADR issuance which could see it potentially launch a raising in July 2026, as per media reports.
In this note, we look at its past performance and other deal dynamics that might impact the listing.


Aequitas: SK Hynix ADR Listing - Part 1 - Early Look at the US$10-15bn Offering

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

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Following the short sell ban announced on the weekend, the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/korea-stock-exchange-kospi-200" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26021:1" rel="noopener">KOSPI 200</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kosdaq-150-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31077:1" rel="noopener">KOSDAQ 150</a> opened higher on Monday and rallied through the day.</li>
<li>A lot of the intraday gains on Monday have been given up over the next two trading days. Surprisingly, KRX data indicates that not a lot of shorts have covered.</li>
<li>Foreigners have been net cash buyers since Monday (could indicate covering of offshore borrow) while retail were big sellers on Monday.</li>
</ul>


Following the short sell ban announced on the weekend, the KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ 150 opened higher on Monday and rallied through the day.
A lot of the intraday gains on Monday have been given up over the next two trading days. Surprisingly, KRX data indicates that not a lot of shorts have covered.
Foreigners have been net cash buyers since Monday (could indicate covering of offshore borrow) while retail were big sellers on Monday.


Korea Short Sell Ban: Not a Lot Covered on Monday; Shorts Holding On?

Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 / Event-Driven

Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 (KOSPI2 INDEX EQUITY)

<ul>
<li>Korea banned all short selling in March 2020 and resumed short selling only on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/korea-stock-exchange-kospi-200" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26021:1" rel="noopener">KOSPI 200</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kosdaq-150-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31077:1" rel="noopener">KOSDAQ 150</a> index constituents in May 2021.</li>
<li>News reports indicate that there could be another short sell ban as soon as the coming week. Indications are that the ban could last 6 months.</li>
<li>There are many implications of a total short sell ban including futures backwardation, market manipulation, and no emerging to developed market promotion.</li>
</ul>


Korea banned all short selling in March 2020 and resumed short selling only on KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ 150 index constituents in May 2021.
News reports indicate that there could be another short sell ban as soon as the coming week. Indications are that the ban could last 6 months.
There are many implications of a total short sell ban including futures backwardation, market manipulation, and no emerging to developed market promotion.


Korea Short Sell Ban: Background, Manipulation, Holdings, Flows, Short Interest, Implications

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), Mirae Asset Securities

Mirae Asset Securities

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Mirae Asset Securities Co.,Ltd. provides comprehensive wealth management services. The Company offers fixed income securities brokerage, securities dealing, equity underwriting, and other services. Mirae Asset Securities also deals with mergers and acquisitions, foreign currency, and financial derivatives

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>We project global demand for AI computing capacity to reach approximately 187GW by 2030 and 285GW by 2032.</li><li>Training demand continues to grow, while inference demand should expand sharply amid a growing AI user base, the proliferation of agentic AI, and increases in both the number of model calls and token usage.</li><li>Even with improvements in compute efficiency, AI data center demand should continue rising. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

We project global demand for AI computing capacity to reach approximately 187GW by 2030 and 285GW by 2032.Training demand continues to grow, while inference demand should expand sharply amid a growing AI user base, the proliferation of agentic AI, and increases in both the number of model calls and token usage.Even with improvements in compute efficiency, AI data center demand should continue rising. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Internet/Software (Overweight/Maintain)Identifying leaders in the AI data center space

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>For 4Q25, NAVER reported revenue of W3.2tr (+11% YoY) and operating profit of W611bn (+13% YoY), broadly in line with the consensus estimates (W3.26tr and W604bn, respectively).</li><li>Search platform revenue came in at W1.06tr (flat YoY), missing our estimate by 6%, affected by fewer working days due to the Chuseok holiday.</li><li>Commerce revenue was W1.05tr (+36% YoY), in line with our estimate, supported by solid growth in Smart Store and the global consumer-to-consumer business. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

For 4Q25, NAVER reported revenue of W3.2tr (+11% YoY) and operating profit of W611bn (+13% YoY), broadly in line with the consensus estimates (W3.26tr and W604bn, respectively).Search platform revenue came in at W1.06tr (flat YoY), missing our estimate by 6%, affected by fewer working days due to the Chuseok holiday.Commerce revenue was W1.05tr (+36% YoY), in line with our estimate, supported by solid growth in Smart Store and the global consumer-to-consumer business. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

NAVER (035420 KS/Buy)Growth Back in Focus in 2026

South Korea

Naver Corp. provides Internet site with web portal services, such as search engine, online game and content development.  The Company also offers marketing service through text and banner advertisement.

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Naver Corp (035420 KS)

Aequitas: SK Hynix ADR Listing - Part 1 - Early Look at the US$10-15bn Offering

SK Hynix (000660 KS) (SKH), a leading global memory producer, aims to raise over US$10bn via an ADR listing. As per media reports, it has filed...

Sumeet Singh

Korea Short Sell Ban: Not a Lot Covered on Monday; Shorts Holding On?

Not a lot of shorts were covered on Monday. There could be more covering in the near term as the market drifts lower. KOSPI200 underperformed...

Brian Freitas

Korea Short Sell Ban: Background, Manipulation, Holdings, Flows, Short Interest, Implications

Media reports indicate that there could be a temporary short sell ban in Korea. This could lead to futures backwardation, market manipulation and a...

Brian Freitas

Internet/Software (Overweight/Maintain)Identifying leaders in the AI data center space

Training demand continues to grow, while inference demand should expand sharply amid a growing AI user base, the proliferation of agentic AI...

Mirae Asset Securities

NAVER (035420 KS/Buy)Growth Back in Focus in 2026

For 4Q25, NAVER reported revenue of W3.2tr (+11% YoY) and operating profit of W611bn (+13% YoY), broadly in line with the consensus estimates...

Mirae Asset Securities

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