Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>On 5 December, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tomony-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17118:1" rel="noopener">Tomony Holdings (8600 JP)</a> - a holding company for two regional banks based in Tokushima Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture - announced (gasp!) a NEW SHARE OFFERING. </li>
<li>It offered 28mm shares + 4.2mm greenshoe - a share count increase of 20%. At 0.27x book. This IS unusual. Especially when banks are being asked to produce better ROC. </li>
<li>The deal priced at ¥366. We're there now. Banks have been sold. It is worth looking at where we are and what could happen next. It's cheap.</li>
</ul>


On 5 December, Tomony Holdings (8600 JP) - a holding company for two regional banks based in Tokushima Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture - announced (gasp!) a NEW SHARE OFFERING. 
It offered 28mm shares + 4.2mm greenshoe - a share count increase of 20%. At 0.27x book. This IS unusual. Especially when banks are being asked to produce better ROC. 
The deal priced at ¥366. We're there now. Banks have been sold. It is worth looking at where we are and what could happen next. It's cheap.


Tomony Holdings (8600 JP) - Regional Bank NEW SHARE Issue - Not What You Want To See, But Buy Anyway

David Blennerhassett

<ul>
<li>Stay long <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/benefit-one-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14502:1" rel="noopener">Benefit One (2412 JP)</a>. Dai-Ichi Life can pay more, if pushed on pricing. May not be huge, but it could be a few percent or even 10%. </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hankook-company-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19369:1" rel="noopener">Hankook &amp; Company (000240 KS)</a>'s family feud goes public. The public tender looks set to fail. Coal in stockings all-round.</li>
<li>If you had any <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toyo-construction-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1176:1" rel="noopener">Toyo Construction (1890 JP)</a> left over from the rally up to ¥1,300+, get out. There may be a better opportunity later, but not here.</li>
</ul>


Stay long Benefit One (2412 JP). Dai-Ichi Life can pay more, if pushed on pricing. May not be huge, but it could be a few percent or even 10%. 

Hankook &amp; Company (000240 KS)'s family feud goes public. The public tender looks set to fail. Coal in stockings all-round.
If you had any Toyo Construction (1890 JP) left over from the rally up to ¥1,300+, get out. There may be a better opportunity later, but not here.


Last Week in Event SPACE: Benefit One, Hankook, Toyo Construction, Hanwha, Tsuruha, Livent/Allkem

<ul>
<li>40% of Banks outside the Top 7 (none of which offered H1 guidance) in the TOPIX Banks Index have now changed H1 guidance or reported H1. 2 reported both up.</li>
<li>92% of the others have revised up H1 net income guidance a weighted average of 47%. Net Interest Income, Corporate fees/comms are up, expenses and credit costs are down.</li>
<li>Big tables with data, reasons for guidance changes, and buyback history of each presented below.</li>
</ul>


40% of Banks outside the Top 7 (none of which offered H1 guidance) in the TOPIX Banks Index have now changed H1 guidance or reported H1. 2 reported both up.
92% of the others have revised up H1 net income guidance a weighted average of 47%. Net Interest Income, Corporate fees/comms are up, expenses and credit costs are down.
Big tables with data, reasons for guidance changes, and buyback history of each presented below.


Japan H1 Bank Earnings: Interest/Fees Up, Expenses/Credit Costs Down - Opportunity Abounds, Still

<ul>
<li>Japanese Banks have had a good run recently. From the day before the BOJ changed the 10yr yield target in December in its YCC programme to today, +30% vs TOPIX.</li>
<li>The question is how that is spread out. There are lots of banks. Some are cheaper than others. Some are better than others. Can we draw conclusions to trade better?</li>
<li>If you are looking at Japanese Banks to play a change in BOJ policy when Governor Kuroda's term ends shortly, there are definitely conclusions one can draw. I offer comments.</li>
</ul>


Japanese Banks have had a good run recently. From the day before the BOJ changed the 10yr yield target in December in its YCC programme to today, +30% vs TOPIX.
The question is how that is spread out. There are lots of banks. Some are cheaper than others. Some are better than others. Can we draw conclusions to trade better?
If you are looking at Japanese Banks to play a change in BOJ policy when Governor Kuroda's term ends shortly, there are definitely conclusions one can draw. I offer comments.


Thinking About Japanese Banks - Go Big, Go Small, Go Insurance

Senior Bank Analyst - Japanese Banks, Windamee Research

J. Brian Waterhouse

Senior Bank Analyst - Japanese Banks

Windamee Research

Japanese Banks

Equity Bottom-Up

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fidea-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17012:1" rel="noopener">Fidea Holdings (8713 JP) </a>from Miyagi Prefecture in Japan’s northern Tohoku Region has announced that Iwate-based <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tohoku-bank-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8169:1" rel="noopener">Tohoku Bank (8349 JP)</a> will become a wholly-owned subsidiary in October 2022, in an all-share deal.   The announcement, which was reported during market trading hours, sent both stock prices up almost 10% on Friday 2 July.  However, rather than presaging a new paradigm for these banks, the spike in the stock prices was simply a reminder of how essentially illiquid these stocks are. The shares retreated to their pre-announcement levels in the following week.Fidea Holdings is the holding company for the smallest of three banks from Yamagata Prefecture, Shonai Bank, and the smallest of two banks from Akita Prefecture, Hokuto Bank.  Tohoku Bank, from Iwate Prefecture, is the smallest of three banks based there, and roughly one-third the size of Fidea Holdings.  Far from being a ‘Band of Brothers’, the enlarged Fidea Holdings will, in effect, be little more than a school of minnows whose combined branch network of 149 branches, while nominally  covering the whole of the Tohoku Region, has little overlap; thus little opportunity to cut costs through closing competing branches or reducing the headcount significantly.  Significant inherent weaknesses in all three banks remain largely unaddressed.  It is difficult to see how simply integrating operations under a holding company structure will resolve them.While the announcement no doubt comes with the advance approval of the financial authorities, who are keen for regional banks to merge to strengthen their operations, it creates something of a dilemma for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in that both institutions still owe taxpayers a combined total of ¥20 billion (US$181.8 million) in public funds.  Neither seems in a position to repay that capital any time soon, as we explain in this Insight.The Bank of Japan’s own ‘bad bank’, the Resolution &amp; Collection Corporation (RCC), is effectively the largest shareholder in both Fidea Holdings and Tohoku Bank through convertible preferred stock.  Will their debts be forgiven as part of the integration, or will the due date for the public funds repayment simply be extended for a further decade or so?  Will the RCC force conversion of its preferred stock into ordinary shares because of the merger, becoming overtly by far the largest shareholder?  What will be the impact of such a decision on investor sentiment for existing shareholders?  These are all important (and, for the time being, unanswerable) questions for investors.Foreign institutional investors own 12% of Fidea Holdings, and 4% of Tohoku Bank.  We fail to understand the attraction, given all the underlying weaknesses, as we detail in this Insight.  We view Friday’s ‘bounce’ in the stock prices of both Fidea Holdings and Tohoku Bank, on an unusual surge in trading volume, as a narrow ‘opportunity window’ for frustrated shareholders to exit both stocks and stay away thereafter.  That surge is over.  To those who were tempted to pile in we say:   Caveat Emptor! (May the Buyer Beware!).

Fidea Holdings (8713 JP) from Miyagi Prefecture in Japan’s northern Tohoku Region has announced that Iwate-based Tohoku Bank (8349 JP) will become a wholly-owned subsidiary in October 2022, in an all-share deal.   The announcement, which was reported during market trading hours, sent both stock prices up almost 10% on Friday 2 July.  However, rather than presaging a new paradigm for these banks, the spike in the stock prices was simply a reminder of how essentially illiquid these stocks are. The shares retreated to their pre-announcement levels in the following week.Fidea Holdings is the holding company for the smallest of three banks from Yamagata Prefecture, Shonai Bank, and the smallest of two banks from Akita Prefecture, Hokuto Bank.  Tohoku Bank, from Iwate Prefecture, is the smallest of three banks based there, and roughly one-third the size of Fidea Holdings.  Far from being a ‘Band of Brothers’, the enlarged Fidea Holdings will, in effect, be little more than a school of minnows whose combined branch network of 149 branches, while nominally  covering the whole of the Tohoku Region, has little overlap; thus little opportunity to cut costs through closing competing branches or reducing the headcount significantly.  Significant inherent weaknesses in all three banks remain largely unaddressed.  It is difficult to see how simply integrating operations under a holding company structure will resolve them.While the announcement no doubt comes with the advance approval of the financial authorities, who are keen for regional banks to merge to strengthen their operations, it creates something of a dilemma for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in that both institutions still owe taxpayers a combined total of ¥20 billion (US$181.8 million) in public funds.  Neither seems in a position to repay that capital any time soon, as we explain in this Insight.The Bank of Japan’s own ‘bad bank’, the Resolution &amp; Collection Corporation (RCC), is effectively the largest shareholder in both Fidea Holdings and Tohoku Bank through convertible preferred stock.  Will their debts be forgiven as part of the integration, or will the due date for the public funds repayment simply be extended for a further decade or so?  Will the RCC force conversion of its preferred stock into ordinary shares because of the merger, becoming overtly by far the largest shareholder?  What will be the impact of such a decision on investor sentiment for existing shareholders?  These are all important (and, for the time being, unanswerable) questions for investors.Foreign institutional investors own 12% of Fidea Holdings, and 4% of Tohoku Bank.  We fail to understand the attraction, given all the underlying weaknesses, as we detail in this Insight.  We view Friday’s ‘bounce’ in the stock prices of both Fidea Holdings and Tohoku Bank, on an unusual surge in trading volume, as a narrow ‘opportunity window’ for frustrated shareholders to exit both stocks and stay away thereafter.  That surge is over.  To those who were tempted to pile in we say:   Caveat Emptor! (May the Buyer Beware!).

Fidea Holdings (9713 JP):  A School of Minnows

Japan

Tomony Holdings, Inc. is a holding company established through the merger of Tokushima Bank and Kagawa Bank. As a financial group, the Company provides banking services including deposits, loans, foreign currency transactions. The Company also provides other financial services such as credit card and leasing services.

Tomony Holdings (8600 JP)

Last Week in Event SPACE: Benefit One, Hankook, Toyo Construction, Hanwha, Tsuruha, Livent/Allkem

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a coffee, grab a comfortable seat, and sift through a brief summary of insights on various events discussed...

David Blennerhassett

Japan H1 Bank Earnings: Interest/Fees Up, Expenses/Credit Costs Down - Opportunity Abounds, Still

The macro backdrop for Japanese banks is pretty good. Business restructuring efforts are bearing fruit. Global macro is adding fees. Stocks are up,...

Travis Lundy

Thinking About Japanese Banks - Go Big, Go Small, Go Insurance

The BOJ is set for a change in policy shortly. It could come before Kuroda-san leaves, or after, and we don't yet know whether Kishida-san will go...

Travis Lundy

Fidea Holdings (9713 JP): A School of Minnows

Fidea Holdings (8713 JP) has announced that Iwate-based Tohoku Bank (8349 JP) will become a wholly-owned subsidiary in October 2022, in an all...

J. Brian Waterhouse