Singapore

For our next Corporate Webinar, we are glad to welcome BHG Retail’s CEO, Chan Iz-Lynn.

In the upcoming webinar, Iz-Lynn will share a short company presentation after which, she will engage in a fireside chat with Smartkarma Insight Provider, Osbert Tang, CFA. The Corporate Webinar will include a live Q&A session.

The webinar will be hosted on Tuesday, 06 June 2023, 17:00 SGT/HKT.

About BHG Retail REIT

Listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, BHG Retail REIT has a diversified portfolio of six retail properties strategically located in major cities in China, namely Beijing, Chengdu, Hefei, Xining and Dalian. BHG Retail REIT’s asset portfolio consists of community focused retail properties situated in high population density areas frequented by growing middle class professionals and families. Designed as lifestyle destinations, each multi-tenanted mall features a compelling mix of shopping, dining, education and entertainment establishments.

• ZUZU Hospitality, a revenue platform provider for independent hotels, today announced an oversubscribed US$9 million (SG$12 million) Series B funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia, with participation from Atinum Partners and existing investors Wooshin Venture Investment, Visor Ventures and JG Digital Equity Ventures.
• The startup plans to double its hotel partner count across the region with a keen focus on India and reach an impressive milestone of 5,000 partners by the end of 2024.
• Furthermore, it also plans to make strategic investments in AI tools to improve pricing, automate guest management, and improve partner experience.

• Amili, a Singapore-based gut microbiome company, has raised an undisclosed sum from East Ventures in a new funding round.
• The fresh funds will be used for its expansion to Indonesia, focusing on addressing gut health issues specific to the local context.
• Amili’s current offerings include gut microbiome sequencing services for healthcare professionals and probiotic formulations tailored to Asian consumers. Microbiome sequencing is a method for studying bacteria to fuel research on disease protection.

• Challenger Technologies (CHLG SP) has disclosed a voluntary unconditional offer from Dymon Asia and the Loo Family at S$0.56 per share, a 1.8% premium to the undisturbed price (29 May). 
• The little to no offer premium will leave minorities aggrieved. Hitting the 90% compulsory acquisition threshold implies a minority acceptance rate of 31.3%. The offer has not been declared final.
• The offer is set to follow the recent SGX voluntary unconditional offer playbook – a lowball offer followed by declaring the offer final after a cursory bump.

• Consumer electronics retailer Challenger Technologies (CHLG SP) has announced a voluntary unconditional cash offer of S$0.56/share. The Offer price has not been declared final.
• The Offeror is led by Dymon Asia Private Equity and Challenger’s CEO Loo Leong Thye, who collectively hold 54.37%. 
• Including other Loo family members and additional irrevocables, there is a high probability Challenger breaches the public float at the conclusion of the offer and be suspended. 

• kopi-C with Heeton Holdings’ CEO: “Property development fascinates me” When Heeton Holdings’ chief executive Ivan Hoh first took over the company’s reins, he was gunning for change, ready to expand the company’s property portfolio.
• Established in 1976 and listed on Singapore Stock Exchange in September 2003, Heeton Holdings Limited is a real estate company focused on property development, investment and management, and hospitality.

• Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT SP) is looking to raise at least S$202m (US$150m) in its primary placement.
• The proceeds will be used to partially fund its acquisition of a data centre asset in downtown Osaka, Japan, while the remainder will be funded by debt.
• In this note, we’ll run the deal through our ECM framework and comment on deal dynamics.

• Jenfi, a fintech company specialising in revenue-based financing, has raised US$6.6 million in pre-Series B funding.
• Headline Asia led the round, with participation from Monk’s Hill Ventures, ICU Ventures, Granite Oak, Korea Investment Partners & Golden Equator Capital, and Atlas Ventures. Existing early investors also participated.
• With the funding, the fintech firm plans to expand its presence in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia by broadening its customer base while expanding into new markets across Southeast Asia.

• Only six months after its establishment, Singapore-based Locofy launched a beta of its low-code development tool in January 2022.
• It has since received over 100,000 sign-ups across 195 countries.
• Its tech helps designers automate front-end code directly from their designs and integrate them with existing workflows, leveraging AI to convert designs into coding languages to save time.

• Singapore-based insurtech startup bolttech has closed its Series B financing round at US$196 million, led by existing shareholder Japanese insurance holding company Tokio Marine.
• Other key investors include global life insurance giant MetLife through its subsidiary MetLife Next Gen Ventures, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, and new and existing shareholders.
• This funding takes the company’s valuation to US$1.6 billion and comes exactly seven months after Tokio Marine led the first tranche of bolttech’s Series B round.

• Grab‘s1Q2023 made for positive reading with rapid revenue growth and a quickening of progress towards profitability but the focus perplexingly seemed to be drawn to the ethereal measure of GMV. 
• The delivery segment saw the most significant GMV slowdown, impacted by a high base and seasonality but saw rapid revenue growth and record margins. Mobility remained the cash cow.
• Grab‘s profitability improved considerably in 1Q2023 across all segments, with management upgrading the outlook for FY2023 for adjusted EBITDA and maintaining its breakeven target for 4Q2023, which now looks conservative.

• S-Reit acquisitions continue with Clar’s S$218 million buy Earlier last week, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit (Clar) announced the proposed acquisition of an integrated high-specification research and development (R&D) facility and business park property from Seagate Singapore International Headquarters for a purchase consideration of S$218.2 million.
• In April, MLT announced the acquisition of six logistics assets located in Japan, and one logistics property in Sydney, Australia.

• Grab Holdings (GRAB US) ’s share price dropped by about 15% despite reported revenue and adjusted EBITDA losses beating consensus estimates.
• Deliveries’ growth has started falling as more people preferring to dine-out. Grab’s incentive optimisation also has contributed to the fall in growth rates.
• Grab’s aggressive ambitions to turn around profitability is a significant downside risk as it will impact growth going forward and force the company to invest back on growth.

• Sea Ltd’s 1Q2023 results showed its ability to sustain profitable growth with a vibrant performance from e-commerce and fintech, offset by slower digital entertainment but with visible stabilisation.
• E-Commerce showed strong performance in Asia, with Brazil making significant progress towards profitability, whilst digital financial services were boosted by a sizable loan book and more diversified funding costs. 
• Sea Ltd continues to demonstrate its cost leadership and ability to expand its total addressable market while sustaining profitability through better infrastructure and user experience rather than pure promotional spending. 

• Responding to SIAS and the SGX, the Widjaja Family revised terms such that Golden Energy  (GER SP) shareholders opting for an all-cash payout would receive S$0.973/share, up from S$0.846/share.
• The Offer remains low-balled. The Offer should include a similar in-specie of the Stanmore Coal (SMR AU) stake together with a cash-out option. This is the most transparent approach.
• The Circular is out and the IFA reckons the Offer is fair & reasonable – despite a fair value of S$0.574/share for Stanmore versus the Exit Offer of A$0.181/share. 

• The IFA has concluded that the Widjaja family’s offer for Golden Energy & Resources (GER SP) is fair and reasonable. The EGM will be held on 9 June. 
• The IFA has justified its conclusion based on a convoluted methodology that has serious flaws. A fairer SOTP valuation is 37% higher than the IFA’s SOTP valuation range.
• Notably, Dian Swastatika Sentosa (DSSA IJ) will abstain from voting on both resolutions. While the prospect of a bump is diminishing, the offeror is yet to declare the offer final. 

• Shopee, Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce player, has been on a strict financial diet to reach profitability in the last year.
• That’s been welcome news for shareholders of its listed parent, Sea Ltd, but more challenging for sellers on the platform who have faced lower sales growth and higher selling costs after years of heavily subsidised operations. 
• In this blog post we report on the most important figures from Shopee’s newly published Q1-2023 results (released 16 May) as well as the key implications for e-commerce sellers in Southeast Asia.

• Sea (SE US)‘s shares dropped by 18% as its operating profit fell short of consensus by around 60% at $125m, compared to the expected $311m.
• Shopee’s revenue shows improvement due to increased monetization, but there are no signs of exponential growth potential in operating profit.
• Projected decline in paying users poses further downside for Free Fire, while the previously positive fintech segment underperformed in Q1 with revenue and operating profit below expectations.

• SE reported C1Q23 revenue/non-GAAP net income in-line/(37%) vs. cons., and (3.2%)/(31%) vs. our est. Profit miss is mainly due to the 53% YoY decline in game revenue
• We suggest that 1) game development and S&M cost cutting, as well as 2) disappointing game content updates during 1Q23, lead to the weak result; 
• In the long run, we still expect Shopee growth to be SE’s major issue, as TikTok continues to grow rapidly. We maintain SELL and cut TP to US$ 60.