In today’s briefing:
- Nikkei: MUFG To Launch TOB on WealthNavi (7342)
- Dai-Nippon Printing (7912) – The First Equity Offering by Cross-Holders – Small And Lots More To Go
- Dai Nippon Placement – Share Buyback Should Aid Deal Performance
- Quiddity JPX-Nikkei 400 Rebal 2025: End-Nov 2024 Ranks
- Raccoon Holdings, Inc. (3031 JP): 1H FY04/25 flash update
- Restar (3156) – Market Challenges but Maintaining Growth Direction
- Toyobo (3101) – Signs of Recovery in Profitability on the Back of Improving Operating Environment
- D. Western Therapeutics Institute (DWTI) (4576 JP) – Q3 Follow-Up
Nikkei: MUFG To Launch TOB on WealthNavi (7342)
- Early this morning, a Nikkei article said Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) (8306 JP) would buy out the remaining 85% of WealthNavi (7342 JP). Expected to be completed by March.
- MUFJ Bank and WealthNavi signed a Business Alliance in February. WealthNavi issued 9.11mm new shares to MUFJ at ¥1,718/share. That was a discount to market and shares are down ~40%.
- WealthNavi’s AUM is growing (¥1.3trln at end-Oct) and the goal is to launch a money advisory platform by FY2026. Now they need to decide on the premium.
Dai-Nippon Printing (7912) – The First Equity Offering by Cross-Holders – Small And Lots More To Go
- Today after the close Dai Nippon Printing (7912 JP) announced 16 corporate and financial entities would be selling cross-held shares in a ~US$240mm equity offering.
- The stock has gotten shellacked (relatively speaking given structurally low volatility) since three weeks ago. There’s a reason for that. But it makes it cheaper.
- This offering is only 10% of the cross-held total. There’s more to come. But there is more outbound cross-holding to sell too. There’s value here.
Dai Nippon Placement – Share Buyback Should Aid Deal Performance
- A group of shareholders are looking to raise US$214m from selling their respective stakes in Dai Nippon Printing (7912 JP).
- While the deal shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the ongoing cross-shareholding unwind narrative in Japan, the timing of such a selldown isn’t always certain.
- In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.
Quiddity JPX-Nikkei 400 Rebal 2025: End-Nov 2024 Ranks
- JPX-Nikkei 400 is composed of common stocks listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is a free-float-adjusted capped index composed of 400 constituents.
- The annual index review takes place in August every year. We look at the latest rankings of potential ADDs/DELs every month.
- Below is a look at the rankings of potential ADDs/DELs for the JPX-Nikkei 400 August 2025 rebalance based on trading data as of end-November 2024.
Raccoon Holdings, Inc. (3031 JP): 1H FY04/25 flash update
- Revenue increased by 8.3% YoY, with the EC business rising 7.0% and the Financial business 10.0%.
- Operating profit rose 89.9% YoY, driven by reduced advertising expenses and a decline in SG&A expenses.
- Financial business segment profit increased 48.9% YoY, with external payments handled growing 13.0% YoY to JPY20.1bn.
Restar (3156) – Market Challenges but Maintaining Growth Direction
- Some speed bumps at the Device segment – Continuing positive demand from the smartphone sector and sustained growth at the Eco-Solution segment were overshadowed by a loss in earnings momentum at the Devices segment in Q1-2 FY3/25.
- The recovery in demand from the industrial sector remains delayed, together with a sales mix lowering gross margins and FX impact contributing to overall OP falling 3.8% YoY, despite 11.3% sales growth driven primarily by acquisitive growth.
- The current outlook for H2 FY3/25 is assisted by the weak Japanese yen, acquisitive growth, and we expect to see a continuation of the positive demand themes from smartphone and alternative energy.
Toyobo (3101) – Signs of Recovery in Profitability on the Back of Improving Operating Environment
- Positive trajectory – Q2FY3/25 results continued to show signs of recovery in margins (2.4% Q2 FY3/24, 3.7% Q2 FY3/25), reflecting price hikes, volume expansion, and cost reduction.
- By segment, Films was the largest contributor to OP growth (+686.5% YoY), followed by Environmental and Functional Materials (+102.1%).
- Strong OP growth attributed to moderating cost pressures, and improving demand, which has led to unit price hikes without sacrificing volume.
D. Western Therapeutics Institute (DWTI) (4576 JP) – Q3 Follow-Up
- For H-1337, DWTI completed dosing of subjects in the Phase IIb clinical trial in August, and top-line data was announced on November 18.
- All three doses of H- 1337 achieved clinically and statistically significant decreases of up to 30% in intraocular pressure (IOP) which was in the same range as the positive control, existing beta-blocker timolol (p <0.001), and DWTI expects H-1337 will proceed to Phase 3 study based on these results (see P10 for details).
- For DWR-2206, DWTI submitted a notification of clinical trial plan for domestic Phase II clinical trials to the PMDA in March, and the transplant for the first subject was performed in July.
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