In today’s briefing:
- CATL (3750 HK): The Tail Wags the Dog
- [Japan Activism/M&A] Taiyo Holdings (4626) Now an MBO Target? KKR and One More Bidding
- [Japan M&A] NTT To Buy Out SBI Sumishin Net Bank (7163) At a HUGE Price for Minorities
- [Quiddity Index] GMO (9449) Sub GMO Financial Gate (4051) Moves to TOPIX
- STAR&CHINEXT 50 Index Rebalance Preview: One Set of Change; Maybe Two
- [Japan ECM] Financial Crossholders Offering Isuzu (7202) – Big Buyback Covers Most Of The Back End
- Smartkarma Corporate Webinar | Sasseur REIT: Unlocking Value in China’s Retail Outlet Industry
- Clarifying the Universe for Key Korean Index Rebalancings in September
- Isuzu Motors Placement – Relatively Small Deal Along with Buyback
- NIFTY Bank Index: Impact of the Forecast Methodology Change

CATL (3750 HK): The Tail Wags the Dog
- The buying in Contemporary Amperex Technology (3750 HK) over the last couple of days has dragged Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) (300750 CH) higher as the arbs trade the AH spread.
- The Fast Entry into a global index could keep CATL (3750 HK) supported over the next few trading days, but reality will take hold pretty soon.
- Short CATL (3750 HK) / long CATL (300750 CH) offers great risk/reward, while an outright CATL (3750 HK) short offers higher return albeit at a much higher level of risk.
[Japan Activism/M&A] Taiyo Holdings (4626) Now an MBO Target? KKR and One More Bidding
- Taiyo Holdings (4626 JP) has an interesting background, embroiled in a separate activist event via its equity affiliate sponsor Dic Corp (4631 JP), and recently an activist target itself.
- Today a Bloomberg article said KKR and one other PE fund had made acquisition proposals via TOB. Taiyo confirmed, establishing a Special Committee. A deal is months away, at earliest.
- Shares shot up to limit up, opened briefly, then resumed at limit up. The question here and now is valuation.
[Japan M&A] NTT To Buy Out SBI Sumishin Net Bank (7163) At a HUGE Price for Minorities
- Late Nov-2024, SBI Sumishin Net Bank (7163 JP) was trading ¥2,900, weekly mag Bunshun scooped a possible NTT Docomo deal. The stock popped, I was skeptical. It popped more.
- At Q3 earnings, NTT seemed to downplay the possibility saying they wouldn’t overpay. SBI Sumshin fell. Then fell some more.
- Today we get a deal whereby NTT buys out SBI Holdings (8473 JP)‘s 34% stake, and minorities, and partners with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust. Then a side deal with SBI.
[Quiddity Index] GMO (9449) Sub GMO Financial Gate (4051) Moves to TOPIX
- Today after the close, GMO Internet Group (9449 JP) subsidiary GMO Payment Gateway (3769 JP) announced its subsidiary GMO Financial Gate (4051 JP) would move to TSE Prime 5 June.
- That means it moves to TOPIX at the close of trading 30 July 2025.
- This growth stock appears to have “de-growthed” somewhat in stock price terms – trading near its IPO price from covid era, so it is worth a look.
STAR&CHINEXT 50 Index Rebalance Preview: One Set of Change; Maybe Two
- There could be 1 constituent change (maybe 2) for the STAR&CHINEXT 50 Index in June. The announcement of the potential change will be made after market close on Friday.
- Anker Innovations Technology could replace Suzhou Maxwell Technologies in the index. If AVIC Chengdu Aircraft is added to the index, Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment could be deleted.
- Anker Innovations Technology could have opposite flow and Suzhou Maxwell Technologies could have same way flow from passive trackers of other indices on the same day.
[Japan ECM] Financial Crossholders Offering Isuzu (7202) – Big Buyback Covers Most Of The Back End
- In line with the trend of financial institutions led by non-life insurers selling out of their cross-holdings, today we get an offering of shares held in Isuzu Motors (7202 JP).
- Today we got an announcement of 29.28mm shares being offered by a dozen financial institutions and a greenshoe for 15% more. At a 10% discount from here it’s ¥57bn/US$400mm.
- It is 16 days of ADV, which is big, but the company also announced a ¥50bn buyback from Pricing+6 to end of March 2026. That should stabilise things.
Smartkarma Corporate Webinar | Sasseur REIT: Unlocking Value in China’s Retail Outlet Industry
For our next Corporate Webinar we are glad to welcome Sasseur REIT’s CFO, Mr. Xie Jianfeng, Head of Asset Management, Mr. Cheng Hsing Yuen, and Head of Investor Relations & Capital Markets, Ms. Helen Qiu.
In the upcoming webinar, the Sasseur REIT team will share a short company presentation after which, they will engage in a fireside chat with Smartkarma Insight Provider, Garreth Elston. The Corporate Webinar will include a live Q&A session.
The Corporate Webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 16:30 SGT.
About Sasseur REIT
Sasseur REIT is the first retail outlet mall REIT listed in Asia. Sasseur REIT offers investors
the unique opportunity to invest in the fast-growing retail outlet mall sector in China through
its initial portfolio of four quality retail outlet mall assets strategically located in fast-growing
Chinese cities such as Chongqing, Kunming and Hefei, with a combined net lettable area of
310,241 square metres.
Sasseur REIT is established with the investment strategy to invest principally, directly or
indirectly, in a diversified portfolio of income-producing real estate which is used primarily for
retail outlet mall purposes, as well as real estate-related assets in relation to the foregoing,
with an initial focus on Asia.
You can view their latest factsheet here.
For more information on Sasseur REIT, please visit http://www.sasseurreit.com/
Clarifying the Universe for Key Korean Index Rebalancings in September
- KRX sector indices use TMI as their universe, while KOSPI cap-tier indices use all KOSPI-listed stocks, creating a key difference in universe selection.
- KRX sector indices rebalance annually after September expiry, using September TMI (reviewed end-July) as their universe—not the June version, despite common confusion.
- Pre-Positioning is uncertain; market likely waits for August’s September TMI results before building positions. KOSPI cap indices use August review date, with similar flow patterns starting six weeks prior.
Isuzu Motors Placement – Relatively Small Deal Along with Buyback
- A group of shareholders aims to raise around US$380m via selling around 4% of Isuzu Motors (7202 JP).
- Being another cross-shareholding unwind in Japan, it shouldn’t carry much negative connotations, in our view.
- In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.
NIFTY Bank Index: Impact of the Forecast Methodology Change
- To reduce index concentration and the risk of market volatility and market manipulation, SEBI has recommended changes to the eligibility criteria for derivatives on non-benchmark indices.
- The recommended changes will result in two inclusions to the NSE Nifty Bank Index (NSEBANK INDEX) along with large capping changes.
- The inclusions and capping changes will result in an estimated one-way turnover of 17.05% and in a round-trip trade of INR 76.2bn (US$893m) in September.
