Daily Brief Financials: National Stock Exchange, Waypoint REIT, Leopalace21 Corp, Henderson Land Development, Perpetual Ltd, Live Oak Acquisition Corp. VI, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Gravity Acquisition, FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp and more

• The ₹22,569 crore NSE IPO is currently in its final subscription days (closing September 21, 2026) at a price band of ₹1,700–1,785, valuing the exchange at ₹4,41,788 crore. The transaction is structured as a 100% Offer for Sale (OFS), which brings zero fresh capital to the exchange, reflecting its high cash-generation capacity and intent to maintain its high dividend payout ratio.
• SEBI’s regulatory fee structure and index derivatives restrictions represent the primary structural and volume headwinds. While NSE avoided the retrospective options regulatory fee shock that hit BSE and MCX because it historically paid fees on a notional basis, SEBI’s recent derivatives curbs led to a 51.5% drop in options contract volumes in FY26, resulting in a 3.1% decline in operating revenue to ₹16,601 crore.
• The structural decoupling of clearing operations under the interoperability framework is accelerating. Competitors are leveraging this mechanism to drive aggressive fee erosion, causing NSE Clearing Limited’s (NCL) market share in cash settlement to fall from 94.24% to 88.42% and equity derivatives clearing to slide from 95.67% to 91.04% in FY26.

• Context: This Insight follows up on previously highlighted relative value opportunities, using a statistical methodology based on mean-reversion to identify opportunities in paired securities.
• Highlights: In Australia, currently four pair trade opportunities persist across three sectors.
• Why read: Statistical analysis offers a unique perspective on relative value. Gain insights into actionable statistical pair trade opportunities and monitor performance of previously highlighted pairs.

• I summarise the latest spreads and newsflow for the merger arb situations covered across Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Chinese ADRs.
• Highest spreads: Skyworth (751 HK), OFX Group (OFX AU), Z Fin (1168 HK), Peet Ltd (PPC AU), Atlantic Lithium (A11 AU), Tourism Holdings (THL NZ), Cleanaway Waste Management (CWY AU).  
• Lowest spreads: Kadoya Sesame Mills (2612 JP), Leopalace21 Corp (8848 JP), Carnaby Resources (CNB AU), Kakaku.com Inc (2371 JP), Accent Group (AX1 AU), FleetPartners Group (FPR AU). 

• 126.4m of 2,475m NSE shares are being sold, 37.8m of those are anchor stock locked for 30–90 days: the tradable float on 24 Sep is ~88.6m shares, 3.6% total shares. 
• The book is ~1.5x, not 50x — retail is 0.7x covered and the grey-market premium has halved from ₹310 to ~₹150 in a fortnight. Thin float meets thin demand. 
• We hold BULLISH, FV ₹2,000: subscribe at ₹1,785, trim above ₹2,100, add below ₹1,800; the real float arrives on ~22 March 2027 and MSCI/FTSE weight follows it, not the IPO.

• Policy Pivot: The 2026 Policy Address prioritizes long-term supply and public housing, heavily favouring Northern Metropolis infrastructure over short-term mass-market property stimulus.
• Sector Impact: Mass-market buyers struggle under 50% DSR caps, while luxury inventory and commercial landlords benefit from targeted capital migration and stable yields.
• Actionable Trade: Buy Henderson Land (0012.HK). Its 45m sq ft agricultural land bank captures massive Northern Metropolis monetization, unlocking deep Sum-of-the-Parts value.

• After its curious A$22.07/share self-destructing NBIO on the 15th July, EQT returned a fortnight later with a A$22.50/share NBIO for Perpetual Ltd (PPT AU), by way of a Scheme.
• With a 45.2% premium, and optically fair, I thought Perpetual might engage. Perpetual rejected terms on the 29th July. Then crickets. Reportedly Janus Henderson was circling; while EQT continued DD.
• EQT has returned with a A$22.50/share Offer, plus upward of a 1H27 dividend of A$0.60/share, without adjustment. Best & final. Perpetual says no dice.  That’s the wrong decision.

• Live Oak Acquisition Corp. VI is a blank check company formed to effect a business combination, focusing on companies with growth, strong cash flow, and a defensible market position.
• The company targets businesses with enterprise values from $500 million to $2 billion, focusing on above-average growth, substantial free cash flow, and defensible market positions.
• Total assets were $133,318 (Actual) and $203,566,295 (As Adjusted) as of June 30, 2026. The auditor’s report expresses substantial doubt about going concern.

This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.

• Australia’s ASIC releases the aggregated short position data four business days after the reporting day. Data in this insight is up to 14th September, published on the 18th September.
• The largest industry net increase in the past week was A$0.2bn into “Banks“; the largest industry net decrease was A$1bn out of “Diversified Metals“. Net shorts decreased A$1.6bn week-on-week.
• Companies mentioned in this regular weekly report include: CBA (CBA AU), Northern Star Resources (NST AU), Westpac (WBC AU), ANZ (ANZ AU), Suncorp (SUN AU), and Sigma Healthcare (SIG AU).

• The SPAC market in late 2026 has structurally normalized, not speculatively bubbled, with year-to-date issuance hitting 150 IPOs and average trust sizes compressing to a more disciplined $148 million–$190 million range, giving sponsors with execution speed and cross-border capabilities a structural advantage.
• Gravity Acquisition’s unit structure—offering 1/3 of a right instead of traditional warrants—is a deliberate redemption-mitigation mechanism designed to attract yield-seeking institutional arbitrageurs while preventing the massive warrant-driven short-selling pressure that routinely kills post-merger valuations.
• The primary bottleneck in cross-border de-SPAC pipelines is no longer capital, but SEC-level “co-registrant” liability and CSRC regulatory approvals, which together add three to six months to transaction timelines, heavily penalizing SPACs with shorter execution tenors.

• Fold Holdings, Inc. is a financial services company operating across U.S. dollars and bitcoin, offering consumer products and aiming to integrate bitcoin into daily financial lives.
• Fold Holdings was founded in 2019, launched a bitcoin rewards debit card in 2020, and released the Bitcoin Gift Card in May 2025.
• Cash and cash equivalents were $28.4 million as of June 30, 2026. The company received a Nasdaq deficiency notice on July 14, 2026.

This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.