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>Capacity utilization at Sumco's largest customer, TSMC, jumped 10% in Q2, with another core customer, Renesas, showing consecutive improvements.</li>
<li>Surging AI chip demand and geopolitical shifts favoring non-Chinese suppliers are set to boost demand for high-end silicon wafers.</li>
<li>The stock trades at 0.7x book and 4.9x EV/EBITDA. These are levels we think the stock can make a meaningful upward advance from if the improvement in customer inventories broadens.</li>
</ul>


Capacity utilization at Sumco's largest customer, TSMC, jumped 10% in Q2, with another core customer, Renesas, showing consecutive improvements.
Surging AI chip demand and geopolitical shifts favoring non-Chinese suppliers are set to boost demand for high-end silicon wafers.
The stock trades at 0.7x book and 4.9x EV/EBITDA. These are levels we think the stock can make a meaningful upward advance from if the improvement in customer inventories broadens.


Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>In this insight, we discuss about SK Inc (034730 KS) which is considering on selling the controlling stake of SK Siltron.</li>
<li>If SK is successful in selling 70.6% stake in SK Siltron for about 5 trillion won, it could result in more than 3 trillion won cash inflow for SK Inc. </li>
<li>Our base case valuation of SK Inc is NAV of 13.9 trillion won (NAV per share of 192,217 won), representing a 61% upside from current levels.</li>
</ul>


In this insight, we discuss about SK Inc (034730 KS) which is considering on selling the controlling stake of SK Siltron.
If SK is successful in selling 70.6% stake in SK Siltron for about 5 trillion won, it could result in more than 3 trillion won cash inflow for SK Inc. 
Our base case valuation of SK Inc is NAV of 13.9 trillion won (NAV per share of 192,217 won), representing a 61% upside from current levels.


Potential Sale of a Controlling Stake in SK Siltron to Hahn & Co

Equity Capital Markets

JX Advanced Metals / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP) is seeking to raise about ¥460 billion in the upcoming IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The indicative IPO price is ¥862 per share.</li>
<li>The final IPO pricing will be on 10 March. JX Advanced Metals will be listed on 19 March. Eneos is selling as many as 534.9 million shares in the IPO.</li>
<li>The company has a strong customer base. It is a key supplier to TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, and Micron for sputtering targets and high-purity metals.</li>
</ul>


JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP) is seeking to raise about ¥460 billion in the upcoming IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The indicative IPO price is ¥862 per share.
The final IPO pricing will be on 10 March. JX Advanced Metals will be listed on 19 March. Eneos is selling as many as 534.9 million shares in the IPO.
The company has a strong customer base. It is a key supplier to TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, and Micron for sputtering targets and high-purity metals.


Tracking developments across tech supply chains, Tech Supply Chain Tracker

Tech Supply Chain Tracker

Tracking developments across tech supply chains

<ul><li>Sumco to stop silicon wafer production at Miyazaki plant by 2026, impacting supply chain for semiconductor industry.</li><li>MediaTek experiences revenue spike in January due to tariff uncertainty and Chinese subsidies, indicating potential market volatility.</li><li>Pegatron maintains consistent performance in January amid transition period, highlighting company stability.</li></ul>

Sumco to stop silicon wafer production at Miyazaki plant by 2026, impacting supply chain for semiconductor industry.MediaTek experiences revenue spike in January due to tariff uncertainty and Chinese subsidies, indicating potential market volatility.Pegatron maintains consistent performance in January amid transition period, highlighting company stability.

Tech Supply Chain Tracker (12-Feb-2025): Sumco to cease Miyazaki plant's wafer production by 2026.

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>Up to 9 stocks could be deleted from global passive portfolios in November. The deletion will lead to liquidity events where trackers will need to sell multiple days of ADV.</li>
<li>There has been a buildup of shorts on nearly all these stocks though the extent of the pre-positioning varies.</li>
<li>The increase in shorts is smaller than the estimated passive selling, though there is a fair amount of variability across the names.</li>
</ul>


Up to 9 stocks could be deleted from global passive portfolios in November. The deletion will lead to liquidity events where trackers will need to sell multiple days of ADV.
There has been a buildup of shorts on nearly all these stocks though the extent of the pre-positioning varies.
The increase in shorts is smaller than the estimated passive selling, though there is a fair amount of variability across the names.


Japan: Potential Passive Selling in November

Japan

SUMCO Corporation manufactures silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry. The Company produces silicon wafers used to produce solar batteries as well as ultra-high purity quartz used to produce vessels for silicon manufacturing process. SUMCO markets its products worldwide.

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SUMCO Corp (3436 JP)

Sumco (3436): So, This Is How Slumps Die

Unprecidented growth in customer inventory is what started Sumco's slump, but now customers are reporting increased capacity utilization, driven by...

Michael Allen

Potential Sale of a Controlling Stake in SK Siltron to Hahn & Co

If SK is successful in selling 70.6% stake in SK Siltron for about 5 trillion won, it could result in more than 3 trillion won cash inflow for SK Inc.

Douglas Kim

JX Advanced Metals IPO Preview

JX Advanced Metals (5016 JP) is seeking to raise about ¥460 billion in the upcoming IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The indicative IPO price is...

Douglas Kim

Tech Supply Chain Tracker (12-Feb-2025): Sumco to cease Miyazaki plant's wafer production by 2026.

Sumco to cease silicon wafer production in Miyazaki by 2026, MediaTek revenue up in January, Pegatron steady amid transition, Trump imposes steel...

Tech Supply Chain Tracker

Japan: Potential Passive Selling in November

There are a bunch of stocks in Japan that could be sold by passive global investors in November. Shorts have increased on nearly all stocks and the...

Brian Freitas

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