In today’s briefing:
- [Japan ECM] Lifedrink (2585) – Fast-Growing Beverage Seller Meets P.E. Firm Selldown
- BYD (1211 HK): Flat Sales Volume in August and Lower Margin in 1H25
- Cheap Vs. Rich Volatility: What Cones Reveal in Tencent, HSBC, Meituan & More
- KT&G: Selling 57 Real Estate Properties to Generate 1 Trillion Won in Additional Cash Flow
- Lifedrink Placement: Cleanup Sale but Placement Properties Are Not Great
- Golden Throat (6896 HK): China’s Leading Lozenge Maker at 10x P/E and a 10% Dividend Yield
- Orion Breweries IPO – Smaller Scale Warrants Discount
- Genting Berhad – Earnings Flash – H1 FY 2025 Results – Lucror Analytics
- Pinduoduo’s Growth Slows as Competition, Tariffs Hit Temu Expansion
- Orion Breweries IPO: Turning Local Strength into Growth Abroad
[Japan ECM] Lifedrink (2585) – Fast-Growing Beverage Seller Meets P.E. Firm Selldown
- Today post-close, Lifedrink (2585 JP) announced the Sunrise PE funds which own 22% of the company will sell their stake in a clean-up offering with pricing in 8 days.
- This offering comes 8 trading days after a new post-earnings all-time-high. At 24x ADV, the offering will increase Max Real World Float by 50+%.
- There are some index and buyback supply/demand dynamics to note. It’s a heavy offering, so bullish/bearish may be a matter of horizon.
BYD (1211 HK): Flat Sales Volume in August and Lower Margin in 1H25
- In August, BYD’s total sales volume was still flat and its domestic sales volume continued to shrink.
- The operating margin declined significantly to 2.3% in 1H25 from 4.4% in 1H24.
- The P/E band suggests a downside of 23% and a price target of HK$89.00.
Cheap Vs. Rich Volatility: What Cones Reveal in Tencent, HSBC, Meituan & More
- Context: Volatility cones provide a clear framework to evaluate whether options are trading cheap or rich.
- Highlights:Tencent (700 HK), HSBC (5 HK),Meituan (3690 HK), Ping An (2318 HK), and JD.com (9618 HK) all display historically cheap implied volatility. Read on for trade suggestions.
- Why Read: Spot opportunities, assess regime shifts, and manage risk effectively — volatility cones turn complex data into actionable insights for traders and investors.
KT&G: Selling 57 Real Estate Properties to Generate 1 Trillion Won in Additional Cash Flow
- KT&G announced that it is selling numerous properties nationwide as well as financial assets, aiming to generate about 1 trillion won in additional cash flow.
- KT&G has started to sell off a number of real estate properties in Seoul, Bundang, Daegu, Sejong, Busan, and North Chungcheong, and other parts of Korea through public bidding process.
- Four key catalysts with KT&G include an increasing probability of cigarette price hike, asset sales of non-core properties/improving corporate governance, high dividend yields, and profitable growth of core tobacco business.
Lifedrink Placement: Cleanup Sale but Placement Properties Are Not Great
- Lifedrink (2585 JP) is looking to raise around US$175m from a secondary placement.
- The deal is a large one to digest, representing 20.7 days of the stock’s three month ADV, despite being 18.4% of total shares outstanding.
- In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.
Golden Throat (6896 HK): China’s Leading Lozenge Maker at 10x P/E and a 10% Dividend Yield
Golden Throat (6896 HK — US$343 million) is an iconic Chinese brand of throat lozenges, used to deal with sore or dry throats.
The core product is similar to Strepsils, Halls, or Ricola, but is sold over-the-counter in pharmacies.
The company sells 146 million boxes per year and has an estimated market share of 26% in China.
Orion Breweries IPO – Smaller Scale Warrants Discount
- Orion Breweries Limited’s (409A JT) operations span across alcoholic beverages, tourism and hotel businesses, aiming to raise ~US$126m in its Japan IPO via a mix of primary and secondary offerings.
- Orion Breweries (OBL) has a strong Okinawa market position. Share of overseas sales has been growing (~23% of FY25 revenues), while profitability has also largely been steady.
- In our previous note, we looked at the firm’s past performance. In this note, we talk about the peer comparison and IPO valuations.
Genting Berhad – Earnings Flash – H1 FY 2025 Results – Lucror Analytics
- Genting Berhad’s H1/25 results were soft.
- Revenue and EBITDA picked up q-o-q in Q2, albeit the numbers were down on a y-o-y basis.
- The group reported sound earnings growth from Genting Malaysia (supported by improved gaming volumes at Resorts World Genting), though they were offset by earnings declines from Resorts World Singapore and the US assets.
Pinduoduo’s Growth Slows as Competition, Tariffs Hit Temu Expansion
- Pinduoduo Holdings Inc. on Monday reported its slowest revenue growth in three years, as the Chinese e-commerce giant ran into stiffer competition at home and new tariff challenges abroad for its overseas arm Temu.
- The Nasdaq-listed company posted second-quarter revenue of 103.99 billion yuan ($14.5billion), just above market expectations and up 7% from a year earlier. That marked the fifth straight quarter of deceleration and the slowest pace since mid-2022.
- Pinduoduo’s meteoric rise since launching Temu in September 2022 peaked with a 131% revenue surge in the first quarter of 2024. Growth has slowed each quarter since, falling to 86% in the second quarter of 2024, 44% in the third, 24% in the fourth, and only 10% in the first quarter of 2025.
Orion Breweries IPO: Turning Local Strength into Growth Abroad
- Orion Breweries Limited (409A JT) has become synonymous with Okinawa, combining heritage, loyalty, and local identity into a brand experience that larger rivals struggle to replicate.
- The company benefits from Okinawa’s nearly 10 million annual visitors, turning tourism into both a sales driver and a powerful channel for brand amplification abroad.
- The IPO offers attractive valuation versus peers, despite risks from MBO-related debt and potential share overhang from private equity owners.
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