Monday morning links
Indian digital payment company Paytm has filed for a US$2.2 billion IPO, and cornerstone investors Berkshire Hathaway, Alibaba and SoftBank stand to benefit.
China wants its tech companies to relist in Hong Kong, with the government planning to exempt Hong Kong stocks from security reviews. The US government may require SEC PCAOB reviews of Chinese US-listed stocks, which the Chinese government cannot accept.
It looks like Facebook, Google and Twitter might soon close down their operations in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the White House wants American companies to reconsider their presence in Hong Kong. It suggests that Hong Kong is getting closer to full assimilation into mainland China.
Momentum stock fund manager Cathie Wood warned of a revaluation reset in Chinese stocks amid Beijing’s crackdown and sold shares. Such “pukes” often signal a near-term bottom in sentiment.
Bank of Korea signalled that it plans to raise rates at its next meeting in August. Korea’s tech-focused economy is doing well despite the community spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the central bank is concerned about asset bubbles.
Here in Singapore, a new Delta outbreak linked to a KTV outlet caused renewed lock-down measures. It makes you wonder how the city-state will ever be able to “live with endemic COVID”, as it communicated earlier this month.
Company-specific reports
I wrote an article weighing the bull & bear cases of Chinese tech giant Tencent (HKSE: 700 — US$691 billion) ($)
The Macro Geek Substack on Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD — US$135 billion)
ValueTeddy Substack on a short discussion about Japan’s SoftBank (TSE: 9984 — US$116 billion)
A deep-dive on China’s ride-hailing company Didi (NYSE: DIDI — US$58 billion)
Weekly 10-K Substack on Japan’s second-hand shopping platform Mercari (TSE: 4385 — US$8.3 billion)
NipponNuggets on Bengo4.com (TSE: 6027 — US$1.8 billion)
Special Situation Investment on Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU — US$926 million)
Long-form writing
I wrote an article on the best retail brokers for Asian stocks (reading time 11 mins)
Katsuji Nakazawa: Xi's capital market crackdown has a 2022 timeline ($) (6 mins)
The Economist: China may not re-open its borders anytime soon ($) (4 mins)
China unveiled its first passenger aircraft meant to rival Airbus/Boeing (3 mins)
Open Insights on the Delta variant’s potential impact on oil demand (4 mins)
Asianometry: How Naver beat Google Search in South Korea (8 mins)
Macro Ops: The 5 stages of a bull market (4 mins)
Podcasts and videos
Dan Rasmussen on emerging market crisis investing (1:16 hours)
The Little Red Podcast taking listener questions about China (52 mins)
India-based author William Dalrymple on the East India Company (1 hour)
The Economist on how China’s companies are expanding globally (30 mins)
The Razor’s Edge: Are Chinese companies investable? (1:12 hours)
Chart of the week – Real global house-price index
Picture of the week - Hongkongers with BNO visas emigrating to the UK
Thanks for reading, and I wish you a great week ahead!
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