QUAD & the China Equity Risk Premia: synchronized co-ordinated retaliation versus China. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a 21-1 vote Wednesday, approved a bill named “Strategic Competition Act of 2021” - This attacks a China on many fronts and has Biden backing👇🏽 (1/n)
One would force a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics by U.S. officials, not athletes, which was also recommended by the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom. (@Reuters)
Separately, a group of Senate and House of Representatives lawmakers introduced the "Endless Frontier Act," calling for $100 billion over five years for basic and advanced technology research and $10 billion to create new "technology hubs" across the country. (@Reuters)
“Double Dip” - a scenario to consider seriously. Events of this week have unfolded to everyone’s surprise... very negatively.
1/ India new epicenter - cases gone wild (25x higher versus Feb levels). Mutations present accelerated / aggressive disease presentation. India not on travel red lists of most major countries (yet/despite)
GRAB / ALTIMETER $AGC
The positives are well known and enormous respect to Anthony and Hooi Ling for creating an ASEAN behemoth. Nevertheless, here's some of the less obvious, but key points to note on this $40b deal. (1/n)
1. Control: Anthony Tan will continue to control the company with 60.4% of the voting rights, despite owning just 1.1@ of ordinary shares. sec.report/Document/00011… pg 48
Disclosure (thus far): The company hasn't released all the financial details, instead it has put up a dressy deck with 2021-23 projections. So not that much to chew on. Still...
💡 IDEAL $KBANK.TB - consensus Thai O/W, seen as a digital aspirant. However, Brian spots two flies in the ointment. Stock has doubled from 2020 lows, so this is worth noting.
(1/n)
1. foreign line highly likely deletion from MSCI at upcoming MAY SAR - Deletion of the foreign line would require passive funds to sell 87m shares...
2. There is also a possibility of a reduction in the Foreign Inclusion Factor (FIF) on the Non Voting Depository Receipt (NVDR) line if the foreign room stays below 15% on the price cutoff date. This would necessitate selling of around 22m shares.