Brief Growth Ideas: Dexin China (德信中国) Post IPO – Poor Trading Liquidity, Top Ten Placees Hold 76% of IPO Shares and more

In this briefing:

1. Dexin China (德信中国) Post IPO – Poor Trading Liquidity, Top Ten Placees Hold 76% of IPO Shares
2. Amarin Q4 2018 Conference Call–Strong Sales & High Confidence
3. Nexon M&A: Amazon & Comcast Enter the Race – It Ain’t Over Till Its Over!
4. AIG Sells PICC: A Clean-Up Trade Cum Liquidity Event

1. Dexin China (德信中国) Post IPO – Poor Trading Liquidity, Top Ten Placees Hold 76% of IPO Shares

Dexin China Holdings (2019 HK) raised US$189m in at HK$2.80 per share, at the mid-point of its IPO price range. We have previously covered the IPO in:

• Dexin China (德信中国) Pre-IPO – Related Party Transactions and Partial Asset Listing
• Dexin China (德信中国) IPO Review – Key Issues Remain but 9M Results Showed Strong Growth.

In this insight, we will update on the deal dynamics, implied valuation, and include a valuation sensitivity table.

2. Amarin Q4 2018 Conference Call–Strong Sales & High Confidence

Q4 2018 Revenues Stronger Than Pre-Announcement on January 4th: Amarin released its Q4 2018 results today and held a conference call. Results of $77m in sales (+44% YoY), were stronger than the January 4th pre-announced range of $72m and $76m.  2019 revenue guidance of 50% growth to $350m was left unchanged, but management sounded very confident on the conference call (see details below). 

Q1 2019 Revenue Growth Appears Stronger than Expected: On the conference call, Amarin was asked whether Q1 revenues were tracking the prescription data, which indicates +50% YoY growth so far. Management said that sales looked about the same, despite revenues tending not to track prescriptions that closely in Q1 normally.   

FDA May Fast-Track Vascepa Label Expansion: While Amarin’s CEO, John Thero, is usually very conservative with guidance, today he explored the possibilities of fast-track treatment by the FDA for Vascepa’s label expansion for the first time. Amarin is still on course to file for this with the FDA by March-end. Fast-track treatment by the FDA would speed up the approval process to 6 months, versus 10 months, and if favorable, could have significant upside impact on 2019 revenues. 

Approval for Vascepa in Europe to be Sought This Year: Amarin disclosed for the first time that it would seek approval for Vascepa in Europe this year. This is highly significant because the cardiovascular disease (CVD) patient population is 22% higher than the US. Amarin confirmed that FDA approval for label expansion would speed up the approval process in Europe. 

Next Catalyst is the ACC Conference on March 18th: Amarin will be announcing “late-breaking” data from the Reduce-It clinical trial at the American College of Cardiology on March 18th. Because the Reduce-It trial results themselves were so powerful, we expect the ACC event to be of high interest among CVD specialists and investors. 

Amarin Remains an Attractive Take-Over Candidate: Given the high efficacy of Vascepa in the treatment of CVD patients, Amarin continues to be one of the most highly attractive take-over candidates in the pharmaceutical world. Management’s confidence on today’s call appears to be linked to a stronger than expected response to Vascepa among doctors since its block-buster trial results were announced last September. For details about our outlook on Amarin, please refer to our deep-dive report published last month: Amarin–2019’s Biggest Buyout Target for Big Pharma

3. Nexon M&A: Amazon & Comcast Enter the Race – It Ain’t Over Till Its Over!

In a surprising move, it was reported after the market close today that Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) (market cap of US$804 billion) and Comcast (US$176 billion) will enter the race and have submitted initial bids to acquire Nexon Co Ltd (3659 JP)/NXC Corp. 

The entrance of Amazon and Comcast is a major positive surprise and it should have a strong positive impact on Nexon’s share price. Prior to the entrance of Amazon and Comcast in this M&A battle, the market was firmly leaning towards the consortium including Tencent, Netmarble Games, and MBK Partners to acquire NXC Corp/Nexon.

Now, Amazon and Comcast’s entrance into this M&A battle has made it a lot more exciting and uncertain. Nexon Co Ltd (3659 JP)‘s share price is up 19% YTD but its share price trend has been flattening out in February. In the next few weeks, we expect further boost to Nexon’s share price (15%+), mainly because a lot more investors will think that the Tencent consortium, Amazon, and Comcast will try to pay higher price to acquire NXC Corp/Nexon. Kudos to Nexon shareholders!

4. AIG Sells PICC: A Clean-Up Trade Cum Liquidity Event

AIG is selling its USD 450 million stakes in PICC today after market close. The deal scores negatively in our ECM Framework. 

We like the fact that it will increase the free-float significantly and hence there will be a liquidity event, meanwhile, we are also concerned that the deal size is large compared to its liquidity.