In today’s briefing:
- Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP): Wait and Hope
- HK Strategy: Some Consumer IPO Pipelines and Their Proxies
- HYBE to Sell Its 9.4% Stake in SM Entertainment to Tencent Music in a Block Deal Sale
- Conbini Winning by Adding Value but Not Seven Eleven
- Greaves Electric Mobility Ltd Pre-IPO – Battles Market Share Erosion and Reliance on Subsidies
- Netflix Faces The Heat & The Spotlight: Is The Streaming Giant Still A Safe Bet?
- KOSPI 200 Tactical Outlook After Index Rebalancing
- Pinduoduo: Record Ownership Decline Amid Sharp Rotation
- Seres Group A/H Listing – Rapid Growth but Its Partner’s Sanctions Risk Might Keep Some Away
- Kraft Heinz Just Lost Berkshire’s Board Backing—Is A Breakup Or Buyout Next?
Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP): Wait and Hope
- The Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP) AGM was a vote of confidence in the Board’s strategy of pursuing two parallel paths to generate value.
- The Board’s management initiatives are steadily being implemented, but have yet to deliver shareholder value. Since they were announced, the share price has modestly outperformed the Nikkei 225.
- 7&I and Couche Tard signed an NDA but a viable divestiture plan to gain US regulatory approval remains in doubt, particularly as PE has emerged as the likely bidder.
HK Strategy: Some Consumer IPO Pipelines and Their Proxies
- Hong Kong’s IPO market has gathered momentum lately, especially with the overwhelming response to CATL (3750 HK). Consumer IPOs are the next ones to gather interest.
- Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co (FHF HK) is the most imminent one, potentially seeking up to US$1bn. Without significant peers in Hong Kong, it should attract good attention.
- The other interesting ones include Zhou Liu Fu Jewellery Co., Ltd. (1716396D CH), Three Squirrels (TRS HK), and Eastroc Beverage Group (EBG HK).
HYBE to Sell Its 9.4% Stake in SM Entertainment to Tencent Music in a Block Deal Sale
- On 27 May, HYBE announced that it will sell its 9.4% in S.M.Entertainment (2.21 million shares) for about 243 billion won (US$145 million) to Tencent Music Entertainment.
- HYBE’s sale of its stake in SM Entertainment is expected to take place on Friday (30 May) after the market close through an after hours block deal trade.
- The block deal sale of SM Entertainment by HYBE to Tencent is likely to have a negative impact on SM Entertainment’s shares mainly due to large share price discount (15.3%).
Conbini Winning by Adding Value but Not Seven Eleven
- The four largest convenience stores all had varying results last year, two setting records for high profits, and the other two seeing worrying shortfalls.
- The biggest differentiating factor was how each handled the problem of inflation, either through lower prices or by offering added value.
- Unfortunately, Seven Eleven was the worst performer of the big three, still suffering from a price perception problem and lower levels of innovation compared to Lawson and Familymart.
Greaves Electric Mobility Ltd Pre-IPO – Battles Market Share Erosion and Reliance on Subsidies
- Greaves Electric Mobility Ltd (GEML) is looking to raise about US$120m in its upcoming India IPO.
- GEML is a manufacturer of electric vehicles in India, specializing in E-2Ws and 3Ws to a lesser extent. It’s focusing on shifting towards higher ASP High Speed E-2Ws.
- Historically, demand has been sensitive to whether government subsidies are available and had impacted margins before.
Netflix Faces The Heat & The Spotlight: Is The Streaming Giant Still A Safe Bet?
- In a turbulent 2025, Netflix has emerged as one of the most closely watched tech stocks, not just for its market performance but also for its evolving business strategy.
- The streamer’s share price is up over 30% year-to-date, nearing a $500 billion market cap, outpacing the broader S&P 500 by a wide margin.
- Amid global macro uncertainty and shifting consumer behavior, Netflix is experimenting aggressively — hosting live NFL games, expanding into gaming, leveraging artificial intelligence in content production, and responding to a proposed 100% tariff on foreign-produced films.
KOSPI 200 Tactical Outlook After Index Rebalancing
- Korea Exchange announced its KOSPI 200 rebalance changes on 27 May, Sanghyun Park and Douglas Kim wrote extensively about this, here we want to focus purely on the tactical strategy.
- The KOSPI 200 INDEX pulled back last week, then surged on Monday and stagnated on Tuesday, the index has plenty of room to go higher according to our model.
- According to our model, the number of rallies vastly offset the number of pullbacks when this pattern is encountered (=pullbacks are rare), this could be read as a bullish indication.
Pinduoduo: Record Ownership Decline Amid Sharp Rotation
- Pinduoduo sees one of the steepest ownership drops in EM funds, with 95 net sellers and 28 closures in six months.
- Major closures from Aubrey, AllianceBernstein, UBS, and BNP Paribas; largest outflows from Fidelity and BlackRock.
- Despite sharp declines, PDD remains in 36.5% of GEM funds and a top 10 holding in China & HK.
Seres Group A/H Listing – Rapid Growth but Its Partner’s Sanctions Risk Might Keep Some Away
- Seres Group (601127 CH), a Chinese NEV manufacturer, aims to raise around US$2bn in its H-share listing.
- Seres Group (SG) is principally engaged in the research and development, manufacturing, sales and services of new energy vehicles (NEV) as well as core NEV components.
- In this note, we look at its past performance and other deal dynamics that might impact the listing.
Kraft Heinz Just Lost Berkshire’s Board Backing—Is A Breakup Or Buyout Next?
- The Kraft Heinz Company has ignited speculation across the investment world with its recent confirmation that it is exploring “potential strategic transactions” aimed at unlocking shareholder value.
- This announcement comes at a time of mounting pressure for the food giant, which owns legacy brands such as Heinz, Oscar Mayer, and Kraft.
- Notably, the news coincided with another significant development: Berkshire Hathaway, a long-time stakeholder holding 27.5% of the company, has relinquished its board seats, with Timothy Kenesey and Alicia Knapp stepping down.
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