Asiasons Capital - does fortune favors the bold?

Interestingly, this 3 stocks have experienced strong upside momentum over the last few months with blumont gaining the most on an y-o-y basis.

Personally, I have met with the owners of Asiasons before, seen them in person and watched them query private businesses in a 'pitch to the star investors moment'. They are by no means small unknown people, with a wide range of connections, I have been eyeing Asiasons since I met them at techventure 2012 and I found this quite an interesting window of opportunity.

Note the interesting following:
- The management are real, the people are smart and they own a total of 53% stake in the company.
- Private equity and fund management skills are hard to come by, this people have strong credibility and connections, especially in Azlan who is a former Bursa regulator and he sits on the board of M+S (the temasek-khazanah collaboration).
- Asiasons has one of the best run PE funds in the region with an end-to-end operations technique that includes marketing, advertising and website design that enhances value of their investment holdings.

Risk
- Share price have lost nearly 96% of its value from its top of 2.91, no one can quantify the bottom. (Currently at 0.128)
- Share placements, deal-making and other value accretive acquisitions have been put on halt due to fall in share prices
- Stakes in Liongold and connections to blumont and stuff continue to puzzle investors, notwithstanding a fraud collapse. And the last thing investors want is ambiguity which provides more reason for downside (see link - http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/10/19/Business-as-usual-board-to-focus-on-repairing-damaged-reputation-Asiasons-is-picking-up-the-pieces.aspx)

Conclusion
- The downside is kinda curtailed with 96% capital wiped, the company Net Tangible Value stands at 0.18, which remains quite a reasonable price on a liquidation basis (upside of 40%). Also, with not many private equity businesses in the region, this could be a multi-bagger in the long run and opens a wide opportunity for acquisitions.
- Target price 0.34 with 3 year horizon

Note : I am vested with a small portion.

The opportunities are abound....

Hi All,

I have done a quick writeup on some Singapore companies. If you have any interest in any of them. Do let me know and my team would do a more through analysis on them. Cheers! 

Opportunistic due to price decline

    1.    Courts Asia (0.71)

·      Sound Management - Terry O Conner

·      Growth Strategy - Expansion into new markets (Indonesia)

·      Outlook - Growing middle income supports retail business

    2.    Hyflux (1.16)

·      Sound Management - Oliver Lum and key executives in markets

·      Growth Strategy - Strong strategy and JV in China

·      Outlook – Water looks to be a critical industry globally

    3.    Geo-Energy (0.365)

·      Sound Management – Jim Rogers and Smart executives

·      Growth Strategy – Profitable in slumping commodity markets, coal and mining concessions look set to grow company

·      Outlook – Profitable and look set to power in coming years

    4.    Sin Heng (0.21)

·      Sound Management – Toyota Executives and stakeholders

·      Growth Strategy – Expanding in key markets – Indonesia and Myanmar

·      Outlook – Growing construction demand supports the trend

    5.    United Engineers (1.76)

·      Sound Management - Smart Management with wide connections (OCBC)

·      Growth Strategy - Looks set to expand M&A to improve property, Engineering and Rental of buildings through capital recycling and allocation

·      Outlook – Property from WBL in china very valuable, property in SG and assets from WBL is worth at least twice its market value.

·      SOTP compelling

    6.    Civmec (0.63)

·      Sound Management – Renown investors involved

·      Growth Strategy – Australian commodity boom and sound model

·      Outlook – Highly reliant on Australia energy market and requires a quick analysis and turnaround to become profitable

·      Not easily visible (poor catalyst reaction)

    7.    CWT (1.33)

·      Sound Management: Loi Pok Yen and Lyndra (CFO)

·      Growth Strategy – Stable cash flow of logistics allow for expansion into other niche areas such as commodity trading and trade management

·      Outlook – Looks set to become a regional champion

Reits or stable predictable earning structures

    1.    Suntec (1.505)

·      New mall refurbisment set to increase rental

·      Office rentals set to escalate

·      ARA asset management is smart management group and portfolio is rather balance between retail and office.

    2.    Capitaland (2.96)/ Capitacomm (1.36)

·      Capitaland strategy as a holding companing looks more streamline with new CEO

·      SOTP – CapitamallAsia, Capitamall trust, Capitacomm

·      Office rental set to rise

    3.    Boustead (1.29)

·      Sound management – Wong Fong Fui

·      Diversified conglomerate – Technology, Engineering, Construction an Industrial REIT management

    4.    Goodpack (1.62)

·      IBC packing

·      Diversified predictable model which can be easily scalable on a larger level when economy improves

Growth

    1.    Yoma Strategic (0.71)

·      Myanmar Property

·      Forming up a conglomerate (Property, Tourism, Infrastructure, Agriculture)

·      Pending rights issue for office can be harsh on prices

    2.    Silverlake Axis (0.72)

·      IT management for banking

·      Scalable model when economy improves

    3.    Neratel communications (0.72)

·      3 key areas of growth – telecoms, banking solutions, network building

·      Smart PE involved with clear targets and strong management, growth starting to appear

·      Tough market to differentiate could see margin deteriorate rapidly

    4.    Rex International (0.86)

·      REX proprietary technology gives 100%* oil consultancy accuracy

    5.    KrisEnergy (1.18)

·      Investing Track Record of PE, Keppel Corp and management in place

Catcha Media - Looking like a gem

Interesting company. Catcha media. Relevant sources are noted.

CEO: Catcha Media won’t be taken private - for now
The Catcha Media founder also told StarBizWeek several private equity funds had approached him about possibly buying out the company. However, the long-time entrepreneur said he preferred to keep the firm in public hands.

Though he did not name the parties, Grove said two funds, one local and the other a US-based firm regionally headquartered in Singapore, had expressed interest in taking Catcha Media, which debuted on the ACE Market in 2011 at 75 sen a share, off the market.

Grove was responding to a research report by CIMB Research issued yesterday that suggested Catcha Media could be privatised by private equity funds.

“We gather from a recent visit that management may consider this option if Catcha Media's share price remains depressed. In our view, any buyout price is likely to be above the 75 sen initial public offering (IPO) price, as this would alleviate the pain of long-suffering shareholders.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/5/18/business/13128850&sec=business

'Catcha Media severely undervalued'

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/acha-2234/Article/

Bloomberg

About
Catcha Media Berhad (Catcha Media) is listed on the Malaysian bourse ACE market, is one of South East Asia’s largest and most dynamic media groups. Catcha Media’s businesses span online media, publishing and e-commerce with all of them contributing to a combined reach of approximately 10 million people per month.

Catcha Media’s digital division, Catcha Digital, exclusively operates, develops content and delivers advertising solutions across Microsoft’s entire Malaysian portfolio of online products. This portfolio includes the MSN Malaysia portal (msn.com.my), Windows Live Messenger (MY) and Hotmail (MY). It also exclusively operates inventory for Malaysia’s largest technology forum, Lowyat.net, and for Malaysia’s No.1 Car Site, Carlist.my.

Catcha Media’s publishing division, Catcha Publishing, has 15 titles in 17 editions published across three countries. Its portfolio extends to a comprehensive demographic spread from general interests through to high net worth readership with publication titles including JUICE, Hanger, Stuff, Clive, Fairways, Mint, Octane, Prestige, Prestige Lifestyle, IDEAS, HomePride, EVO, Supercars, EVO Performance Heroes and Kitchen+Bathroom Magazine.

Catcha Media is also involved in e-commerce via Hauteavenue.com. The e-commerce business operates exclusive members-only luxury fashion sales portals in Malaysia and Singapore.

From: Catcha Media website

Portfolio management

In learning portfolio management, one seeks to have a balance between equities, fixed income and cash to tide over any period and over the years let one's assets grow. I hence implement a 60% equity, 20% bond, 20% cash and cash equivalent portfolio as follows given a hypothetical account of S$100,000.

Equities stake
20% STI ETF to ride on the index growth
40% portfolio into 7 gems

Fixed income
20% portfolio into highest yielding retail bonds
In choosing between Olam 6.75% bond and LTA 4.17% bond, the latter offers a really goodnight sleep while the former actually is a lot more liquid and gives better returns. Given that your fixed income should be your safe haven in times of trouble, i would recommend $7,000 in olam bonds (Ask price: $1.012) and $13,000 in LTA bonds (Ask price : $1.10).

Fixed deposits
20% of cash in easily available funds to capitalize on opportunity
1 year fixed deposit with Maybank at 1.1% or 6 months deposit depending on your time horizon.

Here is the expected net result if all things goes as plan (time horizon differs)

Do note that the assumptions and valuations are highlighting the possibility that the companies/bonds will continue to grow and find opportunity to succeed. This are by no way an instruction to buy/sell, kindly contact your investment advisors and conduct your own due diligence before taking any course of action. 

6 gems for readers - Q&M, Tiong Seng, MIIF, GlobalInv, Eratat and CCM group

Dear all,

Here are the latest targets that seem rather interesting. They are Q&M, Tiong Seng, MIIF, GlobalInv, Eratat and CCM group. Do note the risk evaluation.
Constructive comments are highly appreciated at edenadvisors@gmail.com. Thank you.



Disclaimer: Please do your own due diligence, while I do my best to ensure the data is accurate as possible, there are differences with regards to estimations, valuations and risk evaluations.

Opening a brokerage account...

A first step - daring to try

To start off, this is a short introduction.

I am a 23 year old graduate from Nanyang Business School.

- My ambition is to be a successful fund manager, just like Jim Rogers.

Here is a list of the markets the brokerage firm covers...maybe more as this research is dated.

To sum up my research on the firms....

This is quite interesting though, it seems like POEMs did have the widest market coverage of 13 markets to trade in, with Lim and Tan coming in second with 11. OCBC and DBS look pretty good too. This are the line ups in no particular order, but it seems that the firms that are purely brokerage ( i.e with no backing of the Banks) seem more into venturing into markets. That being said, I do think Kim Eng and UOB-KH have some fantastic design of website - clean and sleek, it gives me this good first impression versus the clutter of stuff on Lim and Tan and Poems, too much things.. you leave your customer (not me though) confused!

	Amfraser	CIMB-GK	DBS	DMG & UOBKH	Kim Eng	Lim & Tan	OCBC	Phillip
Singapore	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Malaysia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USA	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HongKong		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thailand			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Japan			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
UK			Yes				Yes	Yes
Canada								Yes
Korea						Yes		Yes
Australia			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Indonesia			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Shanghai B			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Shenzhen B			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Philipines			Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Sri Lanka								Yes
Taiwan						Yes		Yes

Older,richer men more prone to biases

Dear readers,

An interesting article that focuses on investment mentality and problems that the everyday investor continues to face. Take heed, practice makes perfect!

Taken from : http://business.asiaone.com/news/older-richer-savvier-men-more-prone-biases

All rights belong to The Straits Times

Fiona Chan

The Straits Times

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Men who are older, richer and savvier are more prone to biases when investing, a new survey has found.

The study, by three students from the Nanyang Business School of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), shows that gender, age and smarts all affect investing bias - sometimes in surprising ways.

For instance, men are more overconfident about their investing ability than women, according to students Chiang Jia Bing, Joel Siew and Raymond Toh.

"After a long winning streak, (men) tend to believe they will consistently outperform the market and hence trade excessively," said the students, who polled 221 Singapore investors.

"Unfortunately, this leads to significant errors as they brush aside subsequent mistakes as aberrations."

Men also suffer more from the disposition effect, the survey has found.

They sell winning stocks too soon and hold losing ones too long, leading to lower gains and larger losses.

Lastly, men are more likely than women to have "home bias": a preference for investing in local shares over foreign counters.

Because of this, they overallocate funds to the local market and forgo some geographical diversification benefits, the NTU students said.

Older investors are also subject to the same biases, the study shows.

In addition, investors also tend to fall prey to loss aversion and confirmation bias as they age.

Confirmation bias is when investors seek only proof of their beliefs and ignore contrary data.

Loss aversion, where the pain of losing money outweighs the pleasure of profit, skews a portfolio towards safe investments with low returns.

Interestingly, investors with higher income, education and financial literacy are more prone to the overconfidence and disposition effect biases, but less to loss aversion, the study shows.

The findings are important as investors led astray by bias may have underperforming portfolios, said the NTU banking and finance students, who are all in their final year of studies.

The students, led by their supervisor, Dr Kong Yoon Kee, also noted that the study results are "worrying" because men tend to be more involved in household investment decisions and because Singapore's population is ageing.

"Investment bias is an important element that is often overlooked, and underestimated," they concluded.

"In the light of this, investor advocacy groups should extend financial education to include awareness about investment biases and their risks."