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>2025 will start with more attractive turnaround opportunities than we have seen in a long time. </li>
<li>An uptick in TOBs, MBOs and merger discussions makes it suddenly no longer safe to short low-PBR companies indiscriminately.</li>
<li>Investors are noticing. More than two-dozen large- and medium-cap stocks with deep discounts to the benchmark began to bounce off well-defined support levels in late December.</li>
</ul>


2025 will start with more attractive turnaround opportunities than we have seen in a long time. 
An uptick in TOBs, MBOs and merger discussions makes it suddenly no longer safe to short low-PBR companies indiscriminately.
Investors are noticing. More than two-dozen large- and medium-cap stocks with deep discounts to the benchmark began to bounce off well-defined support levels in late December.


Unloved Japan Round Up Jan. 3: Set Up for A Banner Year?

Smartkarma AI Primers, Smartkarma

αSK Primers

Smartkarma AI Primers

Smartkarma

Smartkarma unites the fragmented investment industry, connecting institutional investors, independent research providers, and corporates within a single network.

Research Reinvented

<ul>
 <li>SG Holdings is a major Japanese logistics provider facing a mix of tailwinds from e-commerce growth and headwinds from intense competition, rising costs, and a declining domestic population.</li>
 <li>The company's strategy focuses on advancing its 'Total Logistics' solutions, expanding its global and cold-chain footprint through M&amp;A, and improving efficiency to combat margin pressures.</li>
 <li>While revenue has shown steady growth, recent profitability has declined due to increased costs and a challenging global freight market, making the successful execution of its Mid-Term Management Plan 'SGH Story 2027' critical for future value creation.</li>
</ul>This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.


  SG Holdings is a major Japanese logistics provider facing a mix of tailwinds from e-commerce growth and headwinds from intense competition, rising costs, and a declining domestic population.
  The company's strategy focuses on advancing its 'Total Logistics' solutions, expanding its global and cold-chain footprint through M&amp;A, and improving efficiency to combat margin pressures.
  While revenue has shown steady growth, recent profitability has declined due to increased costs and a challenging global freight market, making the successful execution of its Mid-Term Management Plan 'SGH Story 2027' critical for future value creation.
This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.

Primer: SG Holdings   (9143 JP) - Aug 2026

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.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding work, in this note we look to summarize our work so far by looking at where most of the selling will likely come.</li>
<li>Of the seven companies that we have looked at so far, collectively they have around US$102bn worth of shares to sell in 118 companies. </li>
<li>Of these, they have a combined stake of over US$1bn in 23 companies.</li>
</ul>


Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding work, in this note we look to summarize our work so far by looking at where most of the selling will likely come.
Of the seven companies that we have looked at so far, collectively they have around US$102bn worth of shares to sell in 118 companies. 
Of these, they have a combined stake of over US$1bn in 23 companies.


Japan Cross-Shareholding - Summary Matrix - Over US$100bn of Selling in 118 Companies

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>We believe the price floor of RMB1.4/parcel shipment set by the Guangdong’s authority is a forceful move to put the brakes on the price war in the express delivery sector.</li><li>Most importantly, we believe Guangdong, being the largest province in terms of both parcel volume and revenue, will set an example of “anti-involution”, which will potentially trigger more provinces to follow suit.</li><li>We reiterate our view that this round of “anti-involution” campaign will be similar to the one in 2021, which will boost parcel price hike and serve as a positive catalyst over the coming 3-6 months. </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 believe the price floor of RMB1.4/parcel shipment set by the Guangdong’s authority is a forceful move to put the brakes on the price war in the express delivery sector.Most importantly, we believe Guangdong, being the largest province in terms of both parcel volume and revenue, will set an example of “anti-involution”, which will potentially trigger more provinces to follow suit.We reiterate our view that this round of “anti-involution” campaign will be similar to the one in 2021, which will boost parcel price hike and serve as a positive catalyst over the coming 3-6 months. 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.

Logistics - Price Floor in Guangdong Likely Set an Example for Other Regions...

Japanese Equity Specialist, Ortus Advisors

Andrew Jackson

Japanese Equity Specialist

Ortus Advisors

<ul>
<li>Markets go risk-on with the Fed's 50 bps cut a greenlight for AI/tech favourites to rebound sharply.</li>
<li>New highs for homebuilders setting the tone for further gains the Sumitomo Forestry and Sekisui House, while logistics may be weak after FedEx numbers.</li>
<li>Worth noting out-of-favour JP autos with high short interests and US sales ratios who may be squeeze targets with undeployed capital and foreigners coming back to the Japanese market post-Fed.</li>
</ul>


Markets go risk-on with the Fed's 50 bps cut a greenlight for AI/tech favourites to rebound sharply.
New highs for homebuilders setting the tone for further gains the Sumitomo Forestry and Sekisui House, while logistics may be weak after FedEx numbers.
Worth noting out-of-favour JP autos with high short interests and US sales ratios who may be squeeze targets with undeployed capital and foreigners coming back to the Japanese market post-Fed.


Japan Morning Connection: Out-Of-Favour JP Autos May Be Squeeze Targets

Japan

SG Holdings Co., Ltd. offers courier services. The Company provides goods delivery, cargo logistics, goods pickup, and other services. SG Holdings also operates real estate development, human resources management, and other businesses.

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SG Holdings (9143 JP)

Unloved Japan Round Up Jan. 3: Set Up for A Banner Year?

An uptick in TOBs, MBOs, and mergers creating the best environment for deep value turnarounds in a long time. Dozens of discounted stocks started...

Michael Allen

Primer: SG Holdings (9143 JP) - Aug 2026

SG Holdings is a major Japanese logistics provider facing a mix of tailwinds from e-commerce growth and headwinds from intense competition,...

αSK Primers

Japan Cross-Shareholding - Summary Matrix - Over US$100bn of Selling in 118 Companies

Toyotal has just announced that it will buy back around 290m (around 2% of the stock) of its own shares from MS&AD, Tokio Marine, MUFG and SMFG. In...

Sumeet Singh

Logistics - Price Floor in Guangdong Likely Set an Example for Other Regions...

We believe the price floor of RMB1.4/parcel shipment set by the Guangdong’s authority is a forceful move to put the brakes on the price war in the...

CMB International

Japan Morning Connection: Out-Of-Favour JP Autos May Be Squeeze Targets

Markets go risk-on with AI/tech favorites rebounding sharply, homebuilders hitting new highs, JP autos with high short interests and US sales...

Andrew Jackson

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Unloved Japan Round Up Jan. 3: Set Up for A Banner Year?

An uptick in TOBs, MBOs, and mergers​ creating the best environment for deep value turnarounds in a long time. Dozens of discounted stocks started...

Michael Allen

Primer: SG Holdings (9143 JP) - Aug 2026

SG Holdings is a major Japanese logistics provider facing a mix of tailwinds from e-commerce growth and headwinds from intense competition,...

αSK Primers

Japan Cross-Shareholding - Summary Matrix - Over US$100bn of Selling in 118 Companies

Toyotal has just announced that it will buy back around 290m (around 2% of the stock) of its own shares from MS&AD, Tokio Marine, MUFG and SMFG. In...

Sumeet Singh

Logistics - Price Floor in Guangdong Likely Set an Example for Other Regions...

We believe the price floor of RMB1.4/parcel shipment set by the Guangdong’s authority is a forceful move to put the brakes on the price war in the...

CMB International

Japan Morning Connection: Out-Of-Favour JP Autos May Be Squeeze Targets

Markets go risk-on with AI/tech favorites rebounding sharply, homebuilders hitting new highs, JP autos with high short interests and US sales...

Andrew Jackson

An uptick in TOBs, MBOs, and mergers creating the best environment for deep value turnarounds in a long time. Dozens of discounted stocks started...