In today’s briefing:
- Aisin (7259) – Executing the Capital Policy Side of Its MTMP – Big ¥120bn (8.8%) Buyback
- (Mostly) Asia M&A, Apr 2025 Wrap: Toyota, Abacus Storage, Bright Smart, Fujitsu General, Topcon
- Prime Delivery: Amazon’s Route to Outbid DoorDash for Deliveroo
- Prestige Hospitality Ventures Ltd Pre-IPO Tearsheet
- SDA: SunCar reports 2024 financial and operating results which showed strong revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth. The company continues to secure multiple business agreements and partnerships.
- Woongjin Is Buying Preed Life (Largest Funeral Service Company in Korea) Using LBO
- JAKK: 1Q Review: Impressive Q; Remain Cautious; Reiterate Buy, $40 PT
- A Guide May Be Offered to Disclose MTPs that Focus More on Strategy Rather than Matching Numbers
- Green Tea Group Pre-IPO – PHIP Updates – Still Being Driven Purely by Store Expansion
- Chery Auto Pre-IPO – The Positives – Very Strong Earnings Growth
Aisin (7259) – Executing the Capital Policy Side of Its MTMP – Big ¥120bn (8.8%) Buyback
- Last Friday during market hours, Toyota Group member Aisin (7259 JP) announced earnings, guidance, its MTMP progress update, and a buyback.
- Earnings were OK, all things considered. Guidance was disappointing, but tariff impact is real. The buyback headlines are huge (17%); reality is about half that given the stock price.
- If they execute via TN-3 near-term, it just sets up the next one, but they may do 2/3 TN=3 and 1/3 market. There may be Toyota Industries factors involved.
(Mostly) Asia M&A, Apr 2025 Wrap: Toyota, Abacus Storage, Bright Smart, Fujitsu General, Topcon
- For April 2025, 9 new transactions (firm and non-binding) were discussed on Smartkarma with an overall announced deal size of ~US$6bn. Not including Toyota Industries (6201 JP)‘s potential Offer.
- The average premium for the new transactions announced (or first discussed) in April was ~46%, with a year-to-date average of 53%.
- The average premiums for transactions in 2024 (129 transactions), (2023 (117), 2022 (106), 2021 (165), 2020 (158), and 2019 (145 ) were 43%, 39%, 41%, 33%, 31%, and 31%.
Prime Delivery: Amazon’s Route to Outbid DoorDash for Deliveroo
- Amazon is positioned to outbid DoorDash with a 200–222p/share offer, implying a valuation based on 12.8–14.0x EV/NTM EBITDA, aligning with trade buyer precedent multiples.
- While Amazon’s strategic fit is stronger, regulatory scrutiny from the UK CMA presents material timing and execution risks, likely pushing deal closure into Q1–Q2 2026.
- Deliveroo shareholders face a trade-off: faster liquidity at 180p via DoorDash, or 10–23% upside with Amazon at the cost of longer timelines and political uncertainty. Long ROO LN.
Prestige Hospitality Ventures Ltd Pre-IPO Tearsheet
- Prestige Hospitality Ventures Ltd (1831338D IN) (PHVL) is looking to raise around US$317m in its upcoming India IPO. The bookrunners for the deal are JM Fin, CLSA, JPM, Kotak.
- PHVL is part of the Prestige Group. It is a hospitality asset owner and developer focused on luxury, upper upscale, and upper midscale properties in India.
- As of Dec 24, PHVL’s portfolio includes seven operating hospitality assets with a total of 1,445 keys, including one property under renovation with 190 keys.
SDA: SunCar reports 2024 financial and operating results which showed strong revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth. The company continues to secure multiple business agreements and partnerships.
- SunCar Technology Group ((NASDAQ: SDA) is a leading Chinese cloud-based provider of digital enterprise auto services and auto eInsurance services in China.
- The company offers one-stop, fully digital, on-demand automotive service systems to help enterprise clients build up their customer base and serve their end customers (auto owners).
- The company has grown revenues rapidly in recent years, which we expect to continue in the near-to-midterm.
Woongjin Is Buying Preed Life (Largest Funeral Service Company in Korea) Using LBO
- Woongjin Co Ltd (016880 KS) (through its subsidiary WJ Life Holdings) is buying the controlling interest in Preed Life (largest funeral service company in Korea) using LBO (leveraged buyout).
- Preed Life is the number one player in the funeral service provider industry in Korea. It has excellent financials and it has done an excellent job of consolidating this industry.
- All in all, we like this acquisition of Preed Life by Woongjin using LBO. Preed Life has stable cash flow generation and strong growth in sales and profits.
JAKK: 1Q Review: Impressive Q; Remain Cautious; Reiterate Buy, $40 PT
- We are reiterating our Buy rating and $40 price target on JAKKS Pacific after the company demonstrated the overall strength of their business model and management’s ability to “control what they can control” with a highly impressive 1Q25.
- That said, we are reducing our 2025 and 2026 projections to reflect the near-term material uncertainty from the imposition of over 100% tariffs on China goods from April onward.
- While we believe JAKKS is well positioned, with strong trade, licensee and retailer relationships, a focus on lower priced goods, the ability to shift some production from China and to increase the level of international revenue, to weather the current storm and drive potential upside, we believe the current level of uncertainty will be a drag, which will begin to abate in 4Q25 and into 2026.
A Guide May Be Offered to Disclose MTPs that Focus More on Strategy Rather than Matching Numbers
- It’s progress that more companies are including ROE and ROIC as KPIs in mid-term management plans. On the other hand, it’s true that many disclosures are misaligned with investors’ perspectives.
- As a result of not taking action on problem businesses, it’s often the case that deteriorating environment increases losses of the business, leading to revision of the “medium-term management plan.”
- Investors are more likely to portray corporate value if a company provides measures for problem solving and growth, and reliable execution, rather than goals that are uncertain to be achieved.
Green Tea Group Pre-IPO – PHIP Updates – Still Being Driven Purely by Store Expansion
- Green Tea Group (GTG) is looking to raise up to US$200m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO. The deal will be run by Citi and CMBI.
- GTG is a leading Casual Chinese restaurant chain operator in Mainland China, its revenue growth has been driven mainly via rapid store expansion.
- Persistently negative SSSG post-COVID could signal potential cannibalization or a negative impact from a shift in consumer spending behavior.
Chery Auto Pre-IPO – The Positives – Very Strong Earnings Growth
- Chery Automobile is looking to raise about US$1bn in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO.
- Chery Auto is a Chinese passenger vehicle company which designs, develops, manufactures and sells passenger vehicles, including internal combustion engine vehicles and new energy vehicles, both domestically and overseas.
- In this note, we look at the company’s past performance.
💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma
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