Asean-focused. Ex-Head of Thai Research

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

Athaporn served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 22 years, of which 19 were in research and 9 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006.

Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also performs financial advisory services for TKC Services and provides 11 other on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely:

1) Snippets (news-driven);
2) Sathorn Series (financial services);
3) Silicon Stories (technology); 
4) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin series);
5) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative);
6) Thai Media Spotlight;
7) Political Pit Stop; 
8) Telecom Review; 
9) Thai Macro Watch (read-through from foreign events);  
10) Small Cap Diary; and
11) Property Grid

There are also 3 limited-time series driven by specific events or locations, namely:
1) Thai Corona Crisis;
2) South Series; and
3) Mechanics and Details (deal forensics).

Comanche: The Closest Thing to a Thai Microsoft

IPO Stalker: Humanica, Software Dudes for HR Management

IPO Stalker: PORT, The Merchant of Venice (Of the East)

IPO Stalker: TOA, More Expensive than a Modigliani

Asean (Thailand) Focused Independent Research

M Corp Review

M Corp is led by Athaporn Arayasantiparb who served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 17 years, of which 14 were in research and 4 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006. Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also provides six on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely: 1) Silicon Stories (technology) 2) Sathorn Series (financial services) 3) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin stories) 4) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative) 5) Thai Media Spotlight; and 6) Thai Macro Watch (global market drivers).

Equity Capital Markets

NForce Secure PCL / Equity Capital Markets

Lakeshore Capital nudged us in the direction of NForce Secure, one of their portfolio companies. In this review, we explain four aspects of the company after our initial receipt of their prospectus.<ul>
<li>
IPO. Lakeshore itself currently controls 16% of the company and the two founding families exercising control via a combined 84% stake. It will be firmly underwritten by Yuanta and make its debut on the secondary bourse (MAI).</li>
<li>
Products and vendors. Only 3% comes from services, mainly maintenance, while product revenues make up the lion's share with one vendor (Palo Alto Networks) accounting for over 40%. However, they also represent many other reputable brands such as Symantec, Broadcom, and Trend Micro who specialise in different areas such as physical back up (Data Locker) or geographies (SolarWinds in Europe).</li>
<li>
Industry outlook. For most categories, Thailand specifically and Asia-Pacific in general enjoys bigger runway for growth due to low base effects. For instance, Gartner points out that cloud security spending in Thailand has more than doubled vs a global growth rate of 33.3%.</li>
<li>
Key Risks to this IPO includes: 1) vendor concentration risk (mentioned above); 2) exchange rate risks; 3) key personnel risk; and 4) technology obsoletion.</li>
</ul>

Lakeshore Capital nudged us in the direction of NForce Secure, one of their portfolio companies. In this review, we explain four aspects of the company after our initial receipt of their prospectus.

IPO. Lakeshore itself currently controls 16% of the company and the two founding families exercising control via a combined 84% stake. It will be firmly underwritten by Yuanta and make its debut on the secondary bourse (MAI).

Products and vendors. Only 3% comes from services, mainly maintenance, while product revenues make up the lion's share with one vendor (Palo Alto Networks) accounting for over 40%. However, they also represent many other reputable brands such as Symantec, Broadcom, and Trend Micro who specialise in different areas such as physical back up (Data Locker) or geographies (SolarWinds in Europe).

Industry outlook. For most categories, Thailand specifically and Asia-Pacific in general enjoys bigger runway for growth due to low base effects. For instance, Gartner points out that cloud security spending in Thailand has more than doubled vs a global growth rate of 33.3%.

Key Risks to this IPO includes: 1) vendor concentration risk (mentioned above); 2) exchange rate risks; 3) key personnel risk; and 4) technology obsoletion.


IPO Radar: NForce Secure, New Player in Thai Cyber Security