Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>After the disappointing withdrawal of two IPOs (SK Shieldus and One Store) in 2Q 2022, shares of SK Square are starting to recover in the past seven weeks. </li>
<li>On a NAV basis, shares of SK Square are deeply undervalued. The current valuation reflects a NAV holdco discount of nearly 72.5%.</li>
<li>If we assume a moderate 50% holdco discount, this would suggest a NAV of 74,677 won per share, which would be 81% higher than current price.</li>
</ul>


After the disappointing withdrawal of two IPOs (SK Shieldus and One Store) in 2Q 2022, shares of SK Square are starting to recover in the past seven weeks. 
On a NAV basis, shares of SK Square are deeply undervalued. The current valuation reflects a NAV holdco discount of nearly 72.5%.
If we assume a moderate 50% holdco discount, this would suggest a NAV of 74,677 won per share, which would be 81% higher than current price.


SK Square: The Excessive NAV Valuation Gap Is Likely to Narrow

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>On 4 August (after market close), it was reported that Foosung Co plans to IPO its subsidiary Foosung Global. The timing is to complete the IPO in 2023. </li>
<li>After this news came out, Foosung's share price has declined by 17%. Since its share price peak in May 2022, its share price has declined by 42%. </li>
<li>Recent share price decline has presented a more attractive investment opportunity.  Foosung is currently trading at EV/EBITDA multiple of 7.7x in 2022, which is much lower than 20.9x in 2021.</li>
</ul>


On 4 August (after market close), it was reported that Foosung Co plans to IPO its subsidiary Foosung Global. The timing is to complete the IPO in 2023. 
After this news came out, Foosung's share price has declined by 17%. Since its share price peak in May 2022, its share price has declined by 42%. 
Recent share price decline has presented a more attractive investment opportunity.  Foosung is currently trading at EV/EBITDA multiple of 7.7x in 2022, which is much lower than 20.9x in 2021.


Foosung: Excessive Decline in Share Price Due to Spin-Off & IPO of Its Foosung Global Subsidiary

Semiconductors, Memory and SSDs Specialist, Objective Analysis

Jim Handy

Semiconductors, Memory and SSDs Specialist

Objective Analysis

Objective Analysis offers third-party independent market research and data for the semiconductor industry and investors in the semiconductor industry.

Semiconductors, Memory and SSDs

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>WSTS June semiconductor revenues indicate the onset of a trend of flat-to-down sales</li>
<li>Recent chip company earnings calls largely project a down market in the current quarter</li>
<li>This is most likely the beginning of a 1½ -year downturn in semiconductors</li>
</ul>


WSTS June semiconductor revenues indicate the onset of a trend of flat-to-down sales
Recent chip company earnings calls largely project a down market in the current quarter
This is most likely the beginning of a 1½ -year downturn in semiconductors


Semiconductors Have Reached Turning Point

<ul>
<li>SK REITs (395400 KS) announced today that it will conduct a rights offering worth 210 billion won, representing 25% of its current market cap of 829 billion won.</li>
<li>The rights offering will allow SK REITs to acquire SK U Tower. The rights offering price is 5,060 won, which is 5.4% discount to the current price of 5,350 won.</li>
<li>We would subscribe to this SK REITs rights offering. The SK U Tower in Bundang has excellent location and it has SK Hynix as the main tenant.</li>
</ul>


SK REITs (395400 KS) announced today that it will conduct a rights offering worth 210 billion won, representing 25% of its current market cap of 829 billion won.
The rights offering will allow SK REITs to acquire SK U Tower. The rights offering price is 5,060 won, which is 5.4% discount to the current price of 5,350 won.
We would subscribe to this SK REITs rights offering. The SK U Tower in Bundang has excellent location and it has SK Hynix as the main tenant.


SK REITs Issues a Rights Offering Worth 210 Billion Won

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

<ul>
<li>Over the past decade, Cyclical sectors have traded places with Sensitive sectors as the largest allocation among active Asia Ex-Japan investors. </li>
<li>The last cycle started in early 2019 and saw Sensitive overtake Cyclicals and move to a key overweight, but this peaked in mid-2021 and has started to reverse.</li>
<li>The major rotation on the year so far has been a scaling back of Technology and Communication Services allocations in favour of Financials and Consumer Discretionary/Staples</li>
</ul>


Over the past decade, Cyclical sectors have traded places with Sensitive sectors as the largest allocation among active Asia Ex-Japan investors. 
The last cycle started in early 2019 and saw Sensitive overtake Cyclicals and move to a key overweight, but this peaked in mid-2021 and has started to reverse.
The major rotation on the year so far has been a scaling back of Technology and Communication Services allocations in favour of Financials and Consumer Discretionary/Staples


Asia Ex-Japan:  Tech to Financials Rotation

South Korea

SK Hynix Inc. provides products and services for the electronic components industry. The Company manufactures semiconductors, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), NAND flash memory, and static random access memory (SRAM) chips.

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SK Hynix (000660 KS)

SK Square: The Excessive NAV Valuation Gap Is Likely to Narrow

On a NAV basis, shares of SK Square are deeply undervalued. If we assume a moderate 50% holdco discount, this would suggest a NAV of 74,677 won per...

Douglas Kim

Semiconductors Have Reached Turning Point

The semiconductor market is starting to change from unusual growth and record revenues to a downturn that will return it to its long-term trend. ...

Jim Handy

SK REITs Issues a Rights Offering Worth 210 Billion Won

SK REITs (395400 KS) announced today that it will conduct a rights offering worth 210 billion won to purchase SK U Tower in Bundang, Korea. We...

Douglas Kim

Asia Ex-Japan: Tech to Financials Rotation

Asia Ex-Japan funds are in the midst of a major rotation out of Technology and Communication Services stocks and in to Financials and Consumer...

Steven Holden

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SK Square: The Excessive NAV Valuation Gap Is Likely to Narrow

On a NAV basis, shares of SK Square are deeply undervalued. If we assume a moderate 50% holdco discount, this would suggest a NAV of 74,677 won per...

Douglas Kim

Foosung: Excessive Decline in Share Price Due to Spin-Off & IPO of Its Foosung Global Subsidiary

On 4 August (after market close), it was reported that Foosung Co plans to IPO its subsidiary Foosung Global. Recent share price decline has...

Douglas Kim

Semiconductors Have Reached Turning Point

The semiconductor market is starting to change from unusual growth and record revenues to a downturn that will return it to its long-term trend. ...

Jim Handy

SK REITs Issues a Rights Offering Worth 210 Billion Won

SK REITs (395400 KS) announced today that it will conduct a rights offering worth 210 billion won to purchase SK U Tower in Bundang, Korea. We...

Douglas Kim

Asia Ex-Japan: Tech to Financials Rotation

Asia Ex-Japan funds are in the midst of a major rotation out of Technology and Communication Services stocks and in to Financials and Consumer...

Steven Holden