In today’s briefing:
- HD HCE–Infracore Merger: Deal Mechanics & Trade Playbook
- Merger Between HD Hyundai Infracore and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment
- Samsung 2Q25 Official Leaks: Sharp Decline in Operating Profits, but It’s the Bottom. Really?
- Daehan Shipbuilding Pre-IPO: PE Cashing Cheques on the Shipping Boom
- Samsung SDI (006400): Still a No
- LG Electronics- An Insight Into Its Premium Innovative Product Development & Market Positioning!
HD HCE–Infracore Merger: Deal Mechanics & Trade Playbook
- This event offers two arb plays—merger swap and appraisal rights—but there’s barely any juice left as pricing locked the market into an unusually tight range.
- Yeah, it’s tight. Unless cancel risk flares up, the spread likely stays muted—major holder’s balanced stakes make vote pushback or ratio disputes pretty unlikely.
- One angle to watch: passive flows. HCE likely joins KOSPI 200 post-merger, triggering index buys around Infracore’s halt on Dec 30—potentially a solid year-end positioning play.
Merger Between HD Hyundai Infracore and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment
- After the market close on 1 July, HD Hyundai Infracore announced that it will be merging with HD Hyundai Construction Equipment.
- The merger ratio is 0.1621707 common shares of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment for each common share of HD Hyundai Infracore.
- We have Negative ratings on both HD Hyundai Infracore and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment.
Samsung 2Q25 Official Leaks: Sharp Decline in Operating Profits, but It’s the Bottom. Really?
- Samsung doesn’t provide guidance when it reports, but gives revenue an operating profit guidance ~2 weeks before reporting. But we have an officially non-official preview in Korean media.
- 2Q25 operating profit will be “weaker than expected”, declining “by more than 15% from the first quarter” to KRW mid-5 trillion range. Consensus expects +1% QoQ.
- Some positive news to counter balance this large disappointment – smartphone, HBM3E – I am skeptical any of these can lift profits in 2H25, revisit early 2026.
Daehan Shipbuilding Pre-IPO: PE Cashing Cheques on the Shipping Boom
- Daehan Shipbuilding (439260 KS) is looking to raise up to US$350m in its upcoming Korean IPO.
- It specializes in the design and construction of medium-sized (Aframax) and semi-large sized (Suezmax) vessels for crude oil and petroleum product transportation.
- In this note, we provide updates on the firm’s past performance.
Samsung SDI (006400): Still a No
- The EU ended the direct purchase subsidies for EVs; that is a negative for Samsung SDI (006400 KS).
- Management is quite bullish, but the last two quarters result were quite informative on the level of margin and contribution from the battery business.
- It trades around 112x PER while historically around 25-35x PER and its competitor Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) (3750 HK) is only trading at 20x.
LG Electronics- An Insight Into Its Premium Innovative Product Development & Market Positioning!
- LG Electronics presented its first-quarter financial results for 2025, painting a nuanced picture of challenges and strategic initiatives that the company is undertaking.
- LG Electronics reported consolidated sales of KRW 22.74 trillion and an operating profit of KRW 1.26 trillion for the quarter.
- The results showcased a strong quarter with record-high sales figures from several of its business segments, notably in Household Solutions (HS), Vehicle Solutions (VS), and Environmental Solutions (ES).
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