In today’s briefing:
- Genes Tech’s (8257) Rare Arm’s-Length Offer
- Webjet Group (WJL AU): Helloworld’s Scheme Offer Likely to Morph into Competing Takeover Offers
- Samyang Foods: Block Deal Sale of 103 Billion Won of Treasury Shares
- Unilever PLC to Spin Off Ice Cream Business on December 6
- Naver Financial and Dunamu BODs To Decide on A Comprehensive Stock Swap on 26 November
- GBM Resources (GBZ AU)’s Proposed Secondary Listing In Hong Kong
- Yaoko Spearheads M&A Rush in Japanese Supermarket Sector
- KNOT Offshore Partners Faces Lowball Privatization Offer Amid Strong Market Position and Potential for Higher Bid
- Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma IPO Lockup – US$850m Cornerstone Release
Genes Tech’s (8257) Rare Arm’s-Length Offer
- Genes Tech Group Holdings (8257 HK), a turnkey solutions provider, has announced a rare, arm’s-length Offer, by way of a Scheme.
- The Offeror, privately-held Tinicum, is offering HK$0.245/share (not declared final), a 87% premium to last close, and a four-plus-year high.
- Irrevocables comprising 69.79% of the register are supportive. Super clean deal
Webjet Group (WJL AU): Helloworld’s Scheme Offer Likely to Morph into Competing Takeover Offers
- Webjet Group (WJL AU) disclosed a non-binding scheme offer from Helloworld Ltd (HLO AU) at A$0.90 per share, a 12.5% premium to the rejected BGH/Weiss offer of A$0.80.
- The Board has granted due diligence. The offer is unattractive compared to peer multiples, analyst price targets and historical trading ranges.
- The scheme offer is a non-starter and likely to morph into a PointsBet-type situation. Therefore, the potential result is conditional takeover bids from BGH/Weiss and Helloworld.
Samyang Foods: Block Deal Sale of 103 Billion Won of Treasury Shares
- Samyang Foods is pursuing a block deal sale of 103 billion won of its treasury shares to secure additional funds for facility investment and improve its financial structure.
- Samyang Foods plans to sell 74,887 common shares (0.99% of issued shares) at 1,372,000 won per share. The expected block deal price is 1% lower than the current price.
- The counterparties of this block deal sale have already been announced which include Viridian Asset Management, Jump Trading, and Weiss Asset Management.
Unilever PLC to Spin Off Ice Cream Business on December 6
- Unilever is set to complete the spin-off of its ice cream business by December 6, 2025. The new company will start trading from December 8, 2025.
- The Magnum Ice Cream Company lists with ~€8 billion in revenue and improving margins, though elevated leverage post-spin is a concern.
- Unilever’s ice cream spin-off streamlines its portfolio, but valuation uplift appears limited.
Naver Financial and Dunamu BODs To Decide on A Comprehensive Stock Swap on 26 November
- Dunamu and Naver Financial are expected to hold separate board meetings on 26 November and the potential merger of the two companies is on the agenda.
- The valuation of Dunamu is expected to be about 15 trillion won and the valuation of Naver Financial is expected to be about 5 trillion won.
- This merger offers clear long-term advantages, including the opportunity to compete globally with overseas fintech firms like PayPal and Coinbase. Additionally, the collaboration strengthens Korea’s position as a stablecoin leader.
GBM Resources (GBZ AU)’s Proposed Secondary Listing In Hong Kong
- Aussie gold and copper explorer GBM Resources (GBZ AU) has announced plans to seek a secondary listing in Hong Kong.
- GBM has entered a memorandum of understanding with its major shareholder, Wise Walkers Limited, which will fund all listing-related expenses – to be repaid upon a successful listing.
- The listing is, ostensibly, to “broaden its investor base“; however Zijin Gold (2259 HK)‘s barnstorming IPO debut probably spurred on this development.
Yaoko Spearheads M&A Rush in Japanese Supermarket Sector
- Yaoko is now called Blue Zone Holdings, and is shaking up Japan’s supermarket landscape by acquiring two well-matched regional chains just weeks after its launch.
- The company plans to accelerate plans to acquire other smaller supermarket chains to build out into a national chain.
- The plan also signals a new wave of M&A in the sector as barriers to supermarket consolidation finally start to fall.
KNOT Offshore Partners Faces Lowball Privatization Offer Amid Strong Market Position and Potential for Higher Bid
- KNOP received a $10/unit privatization offer from its general partner, trading at $9.8, with a special committee review underway.
- KNOP’s dividend was cut by 95% in 2023, despite improved charter activity and revenue growth, raising expectations for a dividend increase.
- KNOP’s closest peer, Altera Shuttle Offshore, was acquired with a valuation speculated to exceed KNOP’s current $1.3bn offer.
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma IPO Lockup – US$850m Cornerstone Release
- Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (1276 HK), a China-based pharmaceutical company, raised around US$1.5bn in its H-share listing in May 2025. The lockup on its cornerstone will expire soon.
- JHP Has been ranked as one of the global Top 50 pharmaceutical companies by Pharm Exec for six consecutive years since 2019.
- In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.
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