In today’s briefing:
- Aequitas: Woori Financials Placement – Long-Awaited Cleanup Sale by Posco
- Justco Holdings Not Just Another Wework?
- Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX): Tactical Outlook Post Index Rebalance (Pullback Forecast)
- HDFC Bank: Anatomy of a Mini Exodus
- Nesco: Leveraging Strengths to Get Into Adjacencies like Wayside Amenities
- Kyoto Financial Group (5844 JP) – Much More Upside Beyond Equity Monetization
- Heiwa Real Estate (8803.T): The Ultimate TSE Mean-Reversion & Activist Catalyst Trade
- Hydra X: Driving Operating Leverage with a Strong Regulatory Edge (Initiation)
- Ace Liberty & Stone Plc – Small Cap Feast: 23 September 2026
- LPA: Capital Recycling and the Next Leg of Growth
Aequitas: Woori Financials Placement – Long-Awaited Cleanup Sale by Posco
- POSCO Holdings (005490 KS) is looking to raise US$503m in a secondary sale of its shares in Woori Financial Group (316140 KS).
- This is a long-awaited cleanup sale by POSCO Holdings (005490 KS).
- In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework.
Justco Holdings Not Just Another Wework?
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It is not surprising that investors compare JustCo to WeWork, as both share the same business model: sign a long lease with a landlord, spend on renovation, rent out workstations on shorter and flexible terms, and earn the rental spread.
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There are inherent mismatches of fixed cost versus flexible revenue, long liability versus short visibility.
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The flexi-office business model carries high operating leverage, given that its costs are mostly fixed.
Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX): Tactical Outlook Post Index Rebalance (Pullback Forecast)
- The Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX) has been trending up for 3 weeks (including this week), our model flagged it as ‘overbought’. Wall Street/Tokyo brokerages maintain medium-to-long-term bullish trajectories
- Index rebalance will be official from October 1st: added Capcom, Kokusai Electric, and JX Advanced Metals, removing Archion, Konica Minolta, and Kanadevia.
- The price-weighted index has been tilted further toward semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, tech growth, driving institutional flows into chip suppliers. Higher yields and potential further rate hikes present persistent headwind risk.
HDFC Bank: Anatomy of a Mini Exodus
- HDFC Bank ownership has fallen from 51.4% to 40.6% of active funds since December, with $3.2bn of outflows and holdings halving to $9.3bn.
- The selling spans every mandate: Asia ex-Japan and ACWI ex-USA ownership both fell 17.3 points, with net sellers dominating GEM and Global funds too.
- A cooling on India amid the AI trade likely triggered it, but investors staying in India are switching to ICICI Bank and SBI.
Nesco: Leveraging Strengths to Get Into Adjacencies like Wayside Amenities
- With 100% occupancy in Tower 3 and Tower 4, Nesco continues to generate steady revenue of INR 98cr+ and EBIT of INR 80cr+ per quarter.
- Q1 tends to be seasonally weak for exhibitions (BEC), thus QoQ comparison is not relevant. YoY BEC revenue and EBIT grew 10% YoY to INR 44cr+ and INR 22cr+, respectively.
- The Foods business continues to maintain its growth momentum with revenue up 20%+. Work has commenced on 4 sites on Hyderabad-Vishakapatnam expressway for wayside amenities.
Kyoto Financial Group (5844 JP) – Much More Upside Beyond Equity Monetization
- A long tail of earnings growth – Although investor attention on Kyoto FG centers on its significant equity holdings in Kyoto-based companies and the unwinding of those positions we believe the more important story is the improving operating trend at the underlying bank which we think is underappreciated and offers a long tail of earnings growth that is unique among Japan’s regional banks as its fixed-rate loan book gradually reprices.
- The equity portfolio is an additional kicker, providing shareholder return optionality well above peers as it is monetized, and together we think they warrant a premium valuation for what the Bank offers.
- Conservative targets, strong start – The new MTP targets net income of ¥90bn+ by FY3/29 (~2x FY3/26 excluding the gain on Nintendo shares), alongside ROE of 8%+, OHR in the 40% range, ¥300bn+ of shareholding reduction, and a total payout of 50%+.
Heiwa Real Estate (8803.T): The Ultimate TSE Mean-Reversion & Activist Catalyst Trade
- Prime Target: Heiwa’s JPY 171bn market cap perfectly fits activist accumulation parameters, unlocking trapped capital to force aggressive balance sheet reallocation and robust ROE expansion.
- TSE Reform Tailwind: Mandated capital efficiency has already driven a massive JPY 1bn buyback and 6.7m share cancellation, propelling ROE to 9.0% and signaling further unwinds.
- De-Risked Entry: A surging JPY 98 per share dividend floor offsets macroeconomic rate hike risks, offering a highly asymmetric risk-reward profile ahead of imminent governance catalysts.
Hydra X: Driving Operating Leverage with a Strong Regulatory Edge (Initiation)
- Regulated Market Infrastructure Provider: Hydra X operates as a licensed digital asset custodian and tokenisation platform bridging traditional finance with blockchain ecosystems. The company leverages its Capital Markets Services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to deliver institutional-grade exchange technology and secure settlement services across the Asia-Pacific region.
- High-Margin Regulatory Moat: The business model combines recurring software licensing with asset-based custody fees, .yielding a strong gross margin of 82.7% for the 2024 financial year. This asset-light financial profile is protected by formidable barriers to entry, as the rigorous regulatory approval process and deep institutional workflow integrations create substantial customer switching costs.
- Operating Leverage Still to Be Proven: Compliance and administrative overhead scaled faster than revenue through FY24, producing a US$1.9m net loss and reducing cash and cash equivalents to US$3.4m by year end. FY25 showed early improvement, with revenue up 34% and the loss before tax narrowing to US$0.8m, but the company remains loss-making and dependent on its cash reserves and further equity funding.
Ace Liberty & Stone Plc – Small Cap Feast: 23 September 2026
- The strategic metals and gold-focused exploration and development Company drew attention this morning to new agreement between the US, Denmark and Greenland to strengthen defence and security cooperation in Greenland and the wider Arctic and North Atlantic region.
- Arkadian’s 51%-owned Motzfeldt Critical Metals Project is close to the proposed US defence base at Narsarsuaq, and the Company notes that future investment in regional transport and logistics could support Motzfeldt’s development.
- Narsarsuaq was established as a US military base in 1941 and used in that capacity until 1958.
LPA: Capital Recycling and the Next Leg of Growth
- Growth is increasingly de-risked and scalable. Approximately 92% of LPA’s development pipeline is pre-leased, allowing the company to know the tenant, rent, and expected return before construction begins.
- Management believes the ~6 million-square-foot platform could ultimately grow to several times its current size, with incremental properties requiring relatively little additional overhead.
- The $145-million Lima Sur sale validates embedded portfolio value.
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