Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>On 29 April, Krafton announced that it plans to acquire a 39.37% controlling stake in Neptune Company from Kakao Games for 165 billion won ($114.9 million).</li>
<li>Prior to this deal, Krafton owned a 3.2% stake in Neptune. After this deal is completed, Krafton will own a 42.53% stake (19.86 million shares) of Neptune.</li>
<li>Krafton reported excellent results in 1Q 2025. The company beat its sales, operating profit, and net profit by 10.1%, 18.3%, and 13.8%, respectively in 1Q 2025. </li>
</ul>


On 29 April, Krafton announced that it plans to acquire a 39.37% controlling stake in Neptune Company from Kakao Games for 165 billion won ($114.9 million).
Prior to this deal, Krafton owned a 3.2% stake in Neptune. After this deal is completed, Krafton will own a 42.53% stake (19.86 million shares) of Neptune.
Krafton reported excellent results in 1Q 2025. The company beat its sales, operating profit, and net profit by 10.1%, 18.3%, and 13.8%, respectively in 1Q 2025. 


Krafton: Acquisition of Controlling Stake in Neptune from Kakao Games

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

<ul>
<li>Short notional ticked higher on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets and is expected to continue increasing over the next few months.</li>
<li>Since the resumption of short selling, foreign holdings of Korean equities have increased from 29.26% to 29.3%.</li>
<li>The <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/korea-stock-exchange-kospi-200" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26021:1" rel="noopener">Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 (KOSPI2 INDEX)</a> to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kosdaq-150-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31077:1" rel="noopener">KOSDAQ 150 Index (KOSDQ150 INDEX)</a> ratio has stayed stable over the last 3 trading days.</li>
</ul>


Short notional ticked higher on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets and is expected to continue increasing over the next few months.
Since the resumption of short selling, foreign holdings of Korean equities have increased from 29.26% to 29.3%.
The Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 (KOSPI2 INDEX) to KOSDAQ 150 Index (KOSDQ150 INDEX) ratio has stayed stable over the last 3 trading days.


Korea Short Selling: What Happened on Day 1?

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 <em>"Cultural exchanges are a valuable part of our bilateral relations [between China and Korea]. We should avoid any problems occurring in handling such matters.” </em>
</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

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

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.

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shift-up-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36232:1" rel="noopener">Shift Up (462870 KS)</a> raised around US$320m in its South Korean IPO, after pricing at the top. Around US$1.2bn worth of shares will be released from their lockup soon.</li>
<li>Shift Up is a South Korean games developer, which as released three games so far for the global markets.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.</li>
</ul>



Shift Up (462870 KS) raised around US$320m in its South Korean IPO, after pricing at the top. Around US$1.2bn worth of shares will be released from their lockup soon.
Shift Up is a South Korean games developer, which as released three games so far for the global markets.
In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.


Shift Up IPO Lockup - US$1.2bn Lockup Release of Strategic, Employees and IPO Investors

South Korea

NCSOFT Corporation develops and markets on-line games that enable users to play over the Internet and computer software, such as web editing software.  The Company also designs and constructs databases, Intranet, and commercial Internet access systems.

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NCSOFT Corp (036570 KS)

Krafton: Acquisition of Controlling Stake in Neptune from Kakao Games

On 29 April, Krafton announced that it plans to acquire a 39.37% controlling stake in Neptune Company from Kakao Games for 165 billion won ($114.9...

Douglas Kim

Korea Short Selling: What Happened on Day 1?

Short notional has increased as has foreign ownership of Korean equities. Stock selection will become increasingly important. The forecast index...

Brian Freitas

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

Shift Up IPO Lockup - US$1.2bn Lockup Release of Strategic, Employees and IPO Investors

Shift Up (462870 KS) raised around US$320m in its South Korean IPO, after pricing at the top. Around US$1.2bn worth of shares will be released from...

Sumeet Singh

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