Daily Brief Financials: MS&AD Insurance, Affirm Holdings , Klarna Group, Aon , Biotech Growth Trust PLC/The, Coincheck Group and more

• TSE-Listed companies are asked to file “Management Conscious of Capital Cost/Stock Price” awareness reports/policies. Many have. Some are still working on it. And policies change, and CGR reports are updated.
• 216 new CGRs filed in Aug-2025 (after 783 in July, 1,389 in June). Our tools show every report, links to every document, and a diff-file tool. Input name, see changes.
• The JPX Council of Experts met on 2 Sep (and 9 July before that). The parent-sub changes are slow to come. 2 Sep docs may be worth reading in parts.

• Affirm Holdings, Inc. delivered a robust performance in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, marking significant progress in several key areas.
• The company reported a record in key metrics, despite it not being the traditional peak quarter, indicating strong business momentum.
• Affirm’s growth is attributed to its continued focus on underwriting precision and consumer engagement, alongside significant contributions from its 0% APR products that are effectively attracting new customers and encouraging repeat usage.

• Klarna shares are set to start NYSE trading on 10 September; the issue price range implies a market capitalisation of USD12.8bn to USD13.6bn; we believe that its valuation looks underwhelming
• The Klarna IPO valuation versus its peers does, however, show Affirm’s very stretched valuation and we downgrade it to a sell; we upgrade Kakao Pay to a neutral from sell
• We keep PagSeguro, PayPal and Nexi on the buy list for their value credentials; we believe that PayPal is also the best value of the major BNPL players

• Aon plc, a global leader in insurance brokerage and consulting services, is undergoing strategic realignment that has reignited acquisition speculation.
• On September 3, 2025, the company confirmed it would divest the majority of its NFP wealth businesses—namely Wealthspire Advisors, Fiducient Advisors, and Newport Private Wealth—to private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners for approximately $2.7 billion.
• The transaction, expected to close in late Q4, will yield around $2.2 billion in after-tax proceeds and remove $127 million in trailing twelve-month EBITDA from Aon’s books.

The Biotech Growth Trust (BIOG) is managed Geoff Hsu and Josh Golomb at leading global healthcare specialist OrbiMed. The trust provides access to the rapidly evolving biotech sector, seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing in high-quality biotech stocks across the market cap spectrum, with a bias towards smaller, emerging biotech companies. Since Q121, the trust has faced significant performance headwinds in what has been the industry’s largest and most prolonged drawdown. However, the managers remain confident that a stark disconnect exists between current valuations and the favourable fundamentals of the biotech sector. With industry innovation at an all-time high, a generally supportive regulatory environment and major pharma companies looking to bolster their pipelines ahead of a major patent cliff, which should spur M&A activity, now may be an opportune time for investors to consider the biotech sector.

• Coincheck Group N.V. is aggressively positioning itself as a leading global player in crypto financial services, and its latest strategic initiative could mark a turning point.
• Following a disappointing first quarter of fiscal 2026—where trading volumes dipped 33% QoQ and adjusted EBITDA turned negative—Coincheck announced its intent to acquire Aplo SAS, a regulated digital asset prime brokerage based in Paris.
• This acquisition, expected to close in October 2025, represents the company’s first major step into European markets and underscores its ambition to diversify beyond Japan.