Equity Analyst, Event-driven, Quiddity Advisors

Janaghan Jeyakumar, CFA

Equity Analyst with experience in fundamental and event-driven research in Frontier and Emerging markets. 

On Smartkarma, I mainly publish insights on special situations such as mergers & acquisitions, index rebalance events, equity offerings, buybacks, and other corporate restructuring events mainly in the Asia-Pacific and European equity markets.

Equity Analyst, Event-driven

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Quiddity Advisors

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Event-Driven

The disposition of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mcdonald-s-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1425:1" rel="noopener">McDonald's Corp (MCD US)</a>'s ownership in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mcdonald-s-holdings-co-japan" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:985:1" rel="noopener">McDonald's Holdings Co Japan (2702 JP)</a> has been a widely discussed topic in the past several years. However, in July 2020, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mcdonald-s-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1425:1" rel="noopener">Mcdonald's Corp (MCD US)</a> confirmed in its 2020 FQ2 earnings call that they were planning to sell part of their stake. 
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<blockquote>
Consistent with enhancing financial flexibility and our franchising strategy, we're planning to divest a portion of our stake in McDonald's Japan. As a result of the strong performance of the McDonald's Japan business over the past few years and our confidence in the local management team, we believe it's the right time to gradually reduce our ownership stake in the market. This will take some time because of the low trading volume of McDonald's Japan shares. As a reminder, we currently own about 49% of the business, and we will retain at least 35% ownership. This decision provides us with additional financial flexibility to execute our capital allocation strategy while also demonstrating our commitment to our Japanese business.
</blockquote>
According to Capital IQ - and the last filing on the parent currently holds around 43.8% which means <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mcdonald-s-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1425:1" rel="noopener">Mcdonald's Corp (MCD US)</a> has sold around 6.1% of the planned total of ~14%. 
To get to 35% from the current level, they would have to sell another ~11mn shares (~8.2% of total shares) and there is more than one way they could go about that. 
That is where things get interesting. 
More below the fold. 
</div>

The disposition of McDonald's Corp (MCD US)'s ownership in McDonald's Holdings Co Japan (2702 JP) has been a widely discussed topic in the past several years. However, in July 2020, Mcdonald's Corp (MCD US) confirmed in its 2020 FQ2 earnings call that they were planning to sell part of their stake. 


Consistent with enhancing financial flexibility and our franchising strategy, we're planning to divest a portion of our stake in McDonald's Japan. As a result of the strong performance of the McDonald's Japan business over the past few years and our confidence in the local management team, we believe it's the right time to gradually reduce our ownership stake in the market. This will take some time because of the low trading volume of McDonald's Japan shares. As a reminder, we currently own about 49% of the business, and we will retain at least 35% ownership. This decision provides us with additional financial flexibility to execute our capital allocation strategy while also demonstrating our commitment to our Japanese business.

According to Capital IQ - and the last filing on the parent currently holds around 43.8% which means Mcdonald's Corp (MCD US) has sold around 6.1% of the planned total of ~14%. 
To get to 35% from the current level, they would have to sell another ~11mn shares (~8.2% of total shares) and there is more than one way they could go about that. 
That is where things get interesting. 
More below the fold. 


2021 High Conviction: McDonald's Japan -  A TOPIX Inclusion BIG Bet

Mcdonald's Japan

2021 High Conviction: McDonald's Japan - A TOPIX Inclusion BIG Bet