Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

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That trade worked out well.
In my note <a href="https://skr.ma/eEB66" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microstrategy (MSTR US): "Crypto Through The Tulips"</a> back on the 28 June, I recommended shorting <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/microstrategy-inc-cl-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14717:1" rel="noopener">Microstrategy Inc Cl A (MSTR US)</a> and going long bitcoin.
MSTR is up 2.3% since, against 30% for BTC.
MSTR has a tendency to issue paper to buy more bitcoins when the stock is at a large premium to its Bitcoin holdings.  As per its <a href="https://www.microstrategy.com/content/dam/website-assets/collateral/financial-documents/press-release-archive/microstrategy-acquires-additional-bitcoins-and-now-holds-over-105000-bitcoins-in-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21 June 21</a> announcement, MSTR said it held 105,085 bitcoins. That figure remains unchanged.
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/228/764/original/image_1404123321631156413189.png?1631156418" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="228764"></figure>
MSTR's share price was US$123 prior to its initial announcement on the 11 August 2020 it was "adopting Bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset".
The current implied value for MSTR's stub ops - selling business intelligence software - is US$158/share, having touched US$141/share, suggesting value was emerging.
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/228/821/original/image_21363881771631163833057.png?1631163833" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="228821"></figure>
Yet is MSTR the ideal proxy for bitcoin? And just how much legitimacy should be attached to El Salvador giving bitcoin the status of legal tender?
More below the fold.
</div>


That trade worked out well.
In my note Microstrategy (MSTR US): "Crypto Through The Tulips" back on the 28 June, I recommended shorting Microstrategy Inc Cl A (MSTR US) and going long bitcoin.
MSTR is up 2.3% since, against 30% for BTC.
MSTR has a tendency to issue paper to buy more bitcoins when the stock is at a large premium to its Bitcoin holdings.  As per its 21 June 21 announcement, MSTR said it held 105,085 bitcoins. That figure remains unchanged.

MSTR's share price was US$123 prior to its initial announcement on the 11 August 2020 it was "adopting Bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset".
The current implied value for MSTR's stub ops - selling business intelligence software - is US$158/share, having touched US$141/share, suggesting value was emerging.

Yet is MSTR the ideal proxy for bitcoin? And just how much legitimacy should be attached to El Salvador giving bitcoin the status of legal tender?
More below the fold.


Microstrategy (MSTR US): Bitcoin's Mainstream/Fringes Balancing Act

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

Kakao Pay (KP), one of South Korea’s largest payment and financial services apps, aims to raise up to US$1.3bn in its South Korean IPO. Kakao held a 55% stake prior to listing, with Ant Financial holding the balance 45% stake.As of 1H21, KP had a total of 36m users and around 20m monthly active users (MAU). It processed a total GMV of KRW66.9tn in 2020 and it had already generated KRW47.9tn GMV in 1H21 itself. As of the end of 1H21, it had dealings with more than 610,000 affiliated stores and 100 financial institutions.Since spinning out from Kakao in 2017, the number of MAUs have grown 14x from 2Q17 to 2Q21, while the quarterly transaction amount grew 61x from KRW0.4tn in 2Q17 to KRW24.5tn in 2Q21. Over the past few years the company has been expanding its offering beyond payment processing to include other financial products. On the back of this, its revenue has been growing faster than its GMV.We have covered most aspects of the deal in our earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/kakao-pay-ipo-guided-by-ant-financial-to-be-a-mini-ant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kakao Pay IPO - Guided by Ant Financial to be a mini Ant</a>.In this note we will undertake a peer comparison.

Kakao Pay (KP), one of South Korea’s largest payment and financial services apps, aims to raise up to US$1.3bn in its South Korean IPO. Kakao held a 55% stake prior to listing, with Ant Financial holding the balance 45% stake.As of 1H21, KP had a total of 36m users and around 20m monthly active users (MAU). It processed a total GMV of KRW66.9tn in 2020 and it had already generated KRW47.9tn GMV in 1H21 itself. As of the end of 1H21, it had dealings with more than 610,000 affiliated stores and 100 financial institutions.Since spinning out from Kakao in 2017, the number of MAUs have grown 14x from 2Q17 to 2Q21, while the quarterly transaction amount grew 61x from KRW0.4tn in 2Q17 to KRW24.5tn in 2Q21. Over the past few years the company has been expanding its offering beyond payment processing to include other financial products. On the back of this, its revenue has been growing faster than its GMV.We have covered most aspects of the deal in our earlier note, Kakao Pay IPO - Guided by Ant Financial to be a mini Ant.In this note we will undertake a peer comparison.

Kakao Pay IPO - Peer Comparison - Local and International

Kakao Pay (KP), one of South Korea’s largest payment and financial services apps, aims to raise up to US$1.3bn in its South Korean IPO. Kakao held a 55% stake prior to listing, with Ant Financial holding the balance 45% stake.As of 1H21, KP had a total of 36m users and around 20m monthly active users (MAU). It processed a total GMV of KRW66.9tn in 2020 and it had already generated KRW47.9tn GMV in 1H21 itself. As of the end of 1H21, it had dealings with more than 610,000 affiliated stores and 100 financial institutions.KP began operation in Sep 2014 as a fintech division of Kakao to facilitate online payments. Ant Financial invested US$200m in the company in Feb 2017 and the division was spun out of Kakao in Apr 2017. Since spinning out, the number of MAUs have grown 14x from 2Q17 to 2Q21, while the quarterly transaction amount grew 61x from KRW0.4tn in 2Q17 to KRW24.5tn in 2Q21. Over the past few years the company has been expanding its offering beyond payment processing to include other financial products. On the back of this, its revenue has been growing faster than its GMV.

Kakao Pay (KP), one of South Korea’s largest payment and financial services apps, aims to raise up to US$1.3bn in its South Korean IPO. Kakao held a 55% stake prior to listing, with Ant Financial holding the balance 45% stake.As of 1H21, KP had a total of 36m users and around 20m monthly active users (MAU). It processed a total GMV of KRW66.9tn in 2020 and it had already generated KRW47.9tn GMV in 1H21 itself. As of the end of 1H21, it had dealings with more than 610,000 affiliated stores and 100 financial institutions.KP began operation in Sep 2014 as a fintech division of Kakao to facilitate online payments. Ant Financial invested US$200m in the company in Feb 2017 and the division was spun out of Kakao in Apr 2017. Since spinning out, the number of MAUs have grown 14x from 2Q17 to 2Q21, while the quarterly transaction amount grew 61x from KRW0.4tn in 2Q17 to KRW24.5tn in 2Q21. Over the past few years the company has been expanding its offering beyond payment processing to include other financial products. On the back of this, its revenue has been growing faster than its GMV.

Kakao Pay IPO - Guided by Ant Financial to Be a Mini Ant

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst, Obex Capital Research

Aaron Gabin

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research

Obex Capital Research

“Obex” is Latin for Barriers to Entry. Obex Capital Management’s investment philosophy is driven by an intense focus on which business model’s Barriers to Entry are able to withstand the ever increasing competitive disruption in the TMT and Consumer Sectors.

Equity Bottom-Up

Last week Square acquired Afterpay for $29B in an all stock deal. Square said the deal would be accretive to gross profit growth in year one after closing, with just a “modest decrease” to adjusted EBITDA in year one. Its shares subsequently added ~$14B market cap…not too shabby.  <div class="content-highlight">Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.  </div>

Last week Square acquired Afterpay for $29B in an all stock deal. Square said the deal would be accretive to gross profit growth in year one after closing, with just a “modest decrease” to adjusted EBITDA in year one. Its shares subsequently added ~$14B market cap…not too shabby.  Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.  

Square: Afterpay Acquisition a Master Class in Platform Synergies

Insurance & Central Asia-focused Analyst, KT Capital Group

Alec Tseung

Insurance & Central Asia-focused Analyst

Private Capital Markets

For an investment in MoMo, which is a leading e-wallet in Vietnam, our analysis shows that the most sensitive factor that would impact a potential investor's return is the company's take rate.Hence, even if the digital payments and e-wallets sector in Vietnam could present significant growth, the return from investing in MoMo could still be unattractive if its take rate drops in the future, given the sector's intensifying competition.The key to defending its future take rate is diversifying away from e-wallets and payments to become a financial facilitator with a complete ecosystem in the coming 3 – 5 years, like Ant Group in China. This is also the strategy Grab Financial Group is going after.

For an investment in MoMo, which is a leading e-wallet in Vietnam, our analysis shows that the most sensitive factor that would impact a potential investor's return is the company's take rate.Hence, even if the digital payments and e-wallets sector in Vietnam could present significant growth, the return from investing in MoMo could still be unattractive if its take rate drops in the future, given the sector's intensifying competition.The key to defending its future take rate is diversifying away from e-wallets and payments to become a financial facilitator with a complete ecosystem in the coming 3 – 5 years, like Ant Group in China. This is also the strategy Grab Financial Group is going after.  

Vietnam's MoMo: A Venture Capital Investment With Private Equity Return?

United States

PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates as a technology platform company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants. The Company offers online payment solutions. PayPal Holdings serves customers worldwide.

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Paypal Holdings (PYPL US)

Microstrategy (MSTR US): Bitcoin's Mainstream/Fringes Balancing Act

But my preference would be cryptocurrency exchange platforms, as they capture all key digital currencies, plus dumb down some of the volatility of...

David Blennerhassett

Kakao Pay IPO - Peer Comparison - Local and International

Kakao Pay, one of South Korea’s largest payment apps, aims to raise up to US$1.3bn in its South Korean IPO. Kakao held a 55% stake prior to...

Sumeet Singh

Kakao Pay IPO - Guided by Ant Financial to Be a Mini Ant

Kakao Pay, one of South Korea’s largest payment and financial services apps, aims to raise up to US$1.3bn in its South Korean IPO. Kakao holds a...

Sumeet Singh

Square: Afterpay Acquisition a Master Class in Platform Synergies

Last week Square acquired Afterpay for $29B in an all stock deal. Its shares subsequently added ~$14B market cap…not too shabby.

Aaron Gabin

Vietnam's MoMo: A Venture Capital Investment With Private Equity Return?

Take rate is the most critical factor that determines the return MoMo could bring to investors. The key to defending its take rate amid intense...

Alec Tseung

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