Situation overview On September 13th, 2019 Tencent made a non-binding "take-private" offer for Bitauto at US$16 per share/ADS. This deal looks to have a high probability of closing given Tencent already owns 7.8% of Bitauto and has secured votes from the largest shareholders adding a further 48.5% (JD.com, Li Bin, Cox). As Bitauto is incorporated … Continue reading Yixin Group Limited (SEHK:2858) →

First a hat tip to @aceglobalvalue and @backoftheenvelo for their extensive notes on BP. I will summarise my thoughts on the situation, but props should go to them for doing the groundwork.   Situation Summary Boustead Projects is an OpCo/PropCo idea, with a high probability of the hidden Real Estate value being realised within a year, through … Continue reading Boustead Projects (SGX:AVM) →

Connect Group plc Ticker:                         LSE:CNCT Price:                            30p Shares:                        247m      Market cap:         £74m   Net debt:                    £70m     EV:                           £145m   Core EBIT:                  £41m      EV/EBIT:                3.5X   Core FCF:                    £28m      FCF yield:              35%     Thesis Summary Connect Group is a classic GoodCo/BadCo. The GoodCo in this case is Smiths News, the … Continue reading Connect Group plc (LSE:CNCT) →

Ticker:                                 LSE:HSW Market cap:                        £110m EV:                                        £90m Normalised EV/FCF:          5X (pre-tax)   Summary & Disclosure I own … Continue reading Hostelworld Group plc (LSE:HSW) →

Overview Staffline has had a tumultuous twelve months to say the least. It all began with an ominous trading update in early January of this year, where they mentioned net debt had spiked to £63m from £37m in the preceding half due to acquisition costs and "exceptional items". Then on the 30th of January, they … Continue reading Staffline (AIM:STAF) →

Note: this is an extremely illiquid situation. I purchased a few hundred shares over the week following the announcement, but have been unable to acquire any more at a price I consider safe. Therefore, this may not be an overly actionable idea, but is still interesting nonetheless.   Business overview Friends Bank (FRIE) is an … Continue reading Friends Bank (OTC:FRIE) →

Disclosure - my firm and I have a substantial investment in Realm Therapeutics. The following should not be viewed as financial advice or a recommendation.   Summary Realm Therapeutics, is a broken bio-tech, currently trading at a substantial discount to our estimated cash backing of 16p per share. We believe this opportunity exists for two … Continue reading Realm Therapeutics (AIM:RLM) →

Recap Last month I posted a short summary describing why I thought LSR represented an interesting short term, arbitrage bet. The short version was: LSR traded at a substantial discount to its NAV and the largest shareholder had announced they may make a bid for the remaining shares. At the time, the stock was trading around 27p … Continue reading The Local Shopping REIT – Part 2 →

Overview The Local Shopping REIT (LSR) has been on my watch list for some time now as the company has been pursuing an orderly liquidation. I never built a position because the potential upside was never enough to justify the uncertain timing of the returns or the final realisable value. The situation changed last Wednesday … Continue reading The Local Shopping REIT (LSE:LSR) →