Links August 2024

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What a month. I hope you survived the yen carry trade shock intact and are doing well. Over the past month, I’ve written about yogurt brand Yakult, printing company Lion Rock, Indonesian automaker Astra International, and luggage brand Samsonite. I also wrote a portfolio review for July 2024 and discussed Johor’s property market and the platinum group metals. To access these posts, just click the button below:

In any case, here are my favorite links from the past month:

• Best Anchor Stocks analyzing Nintendo’s slump (🇯🇵 7974 JP - US$64 billion)
• Longleaf on the ESR Group take-private transaction (🇭🇰 1821 HK - US$6.2 billion)
• Sweet Stocks on Japan car auction operator USS (🇯🇵 4732 JP - US$4.2 billion)
• Turtles on Lufax, which is now paying large dividends (🇨🇳 LU US - US$2.5 billion)
• Tidefall Capital on the value of BIAL in Fairfax India (🇮🇳 FIH/U CN - US$1.9 billion)
• TGV Partners Fund on buybacks in FILA Holding (🇰🇷 081660 KS - US$1.9 billion)
• Idea Hive with an update on Sun Corporation (🇯🇵 6736 JP - US$893 million)
• DaBao on KTV operator Cashbox Partyworld (🇹🇼 8359 HK - US$394 million)
• East72 on Aussie sports analytics firm Catapult (🇦🇺 CAT AU - US$360 million)
• Ennismore on Hong Kong restaurant chain Tam Jai (🇭🇰 2217 HK - US$168 million)
• Patch Together on flower firm Universal Engeisha (🇯🇵 6061 JP - US$118 million)
• Taranvir on Japan Home Centre retailer IH Retail (🇭🇰 1373 HK - US$110 million)
• Cluseau on HR-tech company Human Holdings (🇯🇵 2415 JP - US$104 million)

(estimated reading time)

• PYN Elite Fund on investing in Vietnam / Southeast Asia over 20 years (45 pages)
• Rock & Turner’s profile of famed investor Phil Caret (17 mins)
• Six book recommendations from Eagle Point Capital (16 mins)
• The International Investor with an overview of Asian art auction houses (5 mins)
• A few tweets on Xi Van Fleet’s new book Mao’s America (4 mins)
• Mostly Borrowed Ideas on Bangladesh’s recent coup d’état (3 mins)
• A few tweets about Asif Suria’s new book on special sits investing (2 mins)
• Made in Japan with a few Japanese stocks he’s paying attention to (1 mins)
• Buyside Digest’s list of hedge funds globally with associated letters (table)

(listening time)

• Ryan O’Connor on why he’s invested in Nintendo, from 1:07” forward (1:40 hours)
• John Armitage thinks Japan is mostly a macro trade, also talks AI etc (59 mins)
• Brad Setser explains the yen carry trade and what’s in hold for Japan (58 mins)
• Alex Feng & Jason Quan on the case for Samsonite (49 mins)
• Yours truly on the Security Analysis podcast talking Asian stock ideas (47 mins)
• Chris Wood on the Money Maze podcast discussing Japan, China, EMs (42 mins)
• Bloomberg Big Take Asia on how CICC changed with new leadership (17 mins)
• Whitney Baker’s outlook on how EMs will benefit from a weaker USD (6 mins)

My favorite write-ups this month include: