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

Lionheart Studio  / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lionheart-studio-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36417:1" rel="noopener">Lionheart Studio (426630 KS)</a>, a game development studio based in South Korea,  aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO.</li>
<li>The company is majority owned by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kakao-games-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26730:1" rel="noopener">Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS)</a> , which after having recently hiked its stake, owned 54.94% of the company prior to listing.  </li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the not-so-positive aspects of the deal.</li>
</ul>



Lionheart Studio (426630 KS), a game development studio based in South Korea,  aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO.
The company is majority owned by Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS) , which after having recently hiked its stake, owned 54.94% of the company prior to listing.  
In this note, we will talk about the not-so-positive aspects of the deal.


LionHeart Studio Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Appears to Be Well past Its Peak, Founder Cashed In $700m

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lionheart-studio-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36417:1" rel="noopener">Lionheart Studio (426630 KS)</a>, a game development studio based in South Korea,  aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO.</li>
<li>The company is majority owned by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kakao-games-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26730:1" rel="noopener">Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS)</a>, which after having recently hiked its stake, owned 54.94% of the company prior to listing.  </li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the positive aspects of the deal.</li>
</ul>



Lionheart Studio (426630 KS), a game development studio based in South Korea,  aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO.
The company is majority owned by Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS), which after having recently hiked its stake, owned 54.94% of the company prior to listing.  
In this note, we will talk about the positive aspects of the deal.


Lion Heart Studio Pre-IPO - The Positives - Got One Hit

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

<ul>
<li>Our base case valuation of Lionheart Studio is a target price of 19,362 won per share, which is 46% lower than the low end of the IPO price range.</li>
<li>Our IPO valuation assumes a 7.2x EV/EBITDA (comps' average) using 2023 estimated EBITDA of 145 billion won for the company.</li>
<li>All in all, we believe there is a strong probability of Lionheart Studio being forced to lower its IPO price range in order to attract more investors. </li>
</ul>


Our base case valuation of Lionheart Studio is a target price of 19,362 won per share, which is 46% lower than the low end of the IPO price range.
Our IPO valuation assumes a 7.2x EV/EBITDA (comps' average) using 2023 estimated EBITDA of 145 billion won for the company.
All in all, we believe there is a strong probability of Lionheart Studio being forced to lower its IPO price range in order to attract more investors. 


Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS) announced today a rights offering worth 197 billion won, representing 4.4% of its market cap.</li>
<li>Lionheart Studio's founder and CEO Kim Jae-Young is expected to purchase 3.1 million shares of the rights offering (177 billion won), representing 90% of the total rights offering shares.</li>
<li>The issue with Kakao Games and Lionheart Studio remains the fact that many investors would rather invest in Lionheart when it completes its IPO, rather than indirectly through Kakao Games.</li>
</ul>


Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS) announced today a rights offering worth 197 billion won, representing 4.4% of its market cap.
Lionheart Studio's founder and CEO Kim Jae-Young is expected to purchase 3.1 million shares of the rights offering (177 billion won), representing 90% of the total rights offering shares.
The issue with Kakao Games and Lionheart Studio remains the fact that many investors would rather invest in Lionheart when it completes its IPO, rather than indirectly through Kakao Games.


Kakao Games: Announces A Rights Offering Worth 197 Billion Won

<ul>
<li>We discuss end of the mandatory lock-up periods for 49 stocks in Korea in August 2022, among which 3 are in KOSPI and 46 are in KOSDAQ.</li>
<li>These 49 stocks on average could be subject to further selling pressures in August and could underperform relative to the market. </li>
<li>Among these 49 stocks, the top five market cap stocks include Wemade, HPSP, Sungeel Hitech, Wemade Max, and Eoflow. These companies could be exposed to greater selling pressures in August. </li>
</ul>


We discuss end of the mandatory lock-up periods for 49 stocks in Korea in August 2022, among which 3 are in KOSPI and 46 are in KOSDAQ.
These 49 stocks on average could be subject to further selling pressures in August and could underperform relative to the market. 
Among these 49 stocks, the top five market cap stocks include Wemade, HPSP, Sungeel Hitech, Wemade Max, and Eoflow. These companies could be exposed to greater selling pressures in August. 


End of Mandatory Lock-Up Periods for 49 Companies in Korea in August 2022

South Korea

Wemade Co., Ltd. develops and markets on-line games that enable users to play over the internet.  The Company also provides computer game software and mobile games for cellular phone users.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Wemade Co (112040 KS)

LionHeart Studio Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Appears to Be Well past Its Peak, Founder Cashed In $700m

Lionheart Studio, a game development studio based in South Korea, aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO. In this note, we talk...

Sumeet Singh

Lion Heart Studio Pre-IPO - The Positives - Got One Hit

Lionheart Studio, a game development studio based in South Korea, aims to raise around US$420m via its South Korean IPO. The company is majority...

Sumeet Singh

Lionheart Studio IPO Valuation Analysis

Our base case valuation of Lionheart Studio is a target price of 19,362 won per share, which is 46% lower than the low end of the IPO price range.

Douglas Kim

Kakao Games: Announces A Rights Offering Worth 197 Billion Won

Kakao Games Corp (293490 KS) announced today a rights offering worth 197 billion won, representing 4.4% of its market cap. We remain cautious on...

Douglas Kim

End of Mandatory Lock-Up Periods for 49 Companies in Korea in August 2022

We discuss end of the mandatory lock-up periods for 49 stocks in Korea in August 2022, among which 3 are in KOSPI and 46 are in KOSDAQ.

Douglas Kim

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)