Today I am introducing a new section on SSI: Quick Ideas.
Quick Ideas is for short posts on potentially interesting and actionable investment ideas with more emphasis on making the situation available to members quickly after finding it and less emphasis on the extensive initial research and preparation of full write-up.
The aim is not only to get the core case info quickly on SSI but also to encourage members to share more. I get that writing extensive write-ups is not something everyone loves doing or has time for, so hopefully this format will attract more participation.
The section will be curated by my colleague Ilja. He has been an active member on SSI for quite some time and he is very much looking forward to pushing the Quick Ideas section forward.
You are welcome to share your Quick Idea here.
It would be appreciated if in your findings alongside the basic transnactional information you could also provide your take on the essential points of the case – main risks, what the market is missing etc. The more detailed your coverage is, the more beneficial it is for the community and the more likely it is to receive some feedback. Nonetheless, if you’re really short on time – just a link to the source will do. As the name suggests this is meant to be for Quick Ideas. Use this feature also to share the research you spotted somewhere else on the web (credit will go where credit is due).
For each submission we will run some additional research, expand the write-up on our side where necessary and then post to SSI. We will aspire for 1 workday turnover on each case, but as always happens it might take 2-3 days eventually. We will try not to act as a bottleneck, but some screening/selection might be necessary to avoid overloading the section with weak or non-actionable cases.
As always, only actionable ideas with a special situation edge are of interest.
For the time being submissions for quick ideas will not be considered towards membership applications and annual contribution requirements. For that (and to get free access to SSI) you still have to provide a full write-up on an actionable special situation.
The number of covered cases is expected to be significantly larger than on the main page. Therefore, to avoid overloading your inboxes with daily e-mails, notifications on new Quick Ideas will be sent out as summary newsletter on weekly basis. For those who liked to receive notification with every single post, we are looking into developing opt-in possibility for this, but it might take some time.
This is a new and not yet fully developed concept. We will take into account member interest, engagement and feedback and then adapt Quick Ideas accordingly. We positively hope that it will evolve with time and become a substantial part of SSI.
And for the kick-off here is the first batch of Quick Ideas post – click on each to read more.
Redde (REDD.L) – Merger Arbitrage – 5% upside
A standard merger of equals in UK. Approval from both companies’ shareholders is needed. Shareholder meeting is set for the 15th of January and closing is estimated in Q1 ’20.
Yatra (YTRA) – Merger Arbitrage – 71% upside
Indian online travel services provider Yatra is getting acquired by Ebix. Consideration consists of pure stock part (2% upside) and put option exercisable two years from the closing.
AVIC International Holdings (HK:0161) – Merger Arbitrage – 10% upside
Chinese display panel manufacturer has received a takeover proposal from its state-owned parent (owns 37.5%). Given the tight governmental control on this industry and support from the largest and only major shareholder (9%), it is hard to explain the existence of such significant spread.
Fitbit (FIT) – Merger Arbitrage – 12% upside
Google is acquiring wearable band maker Fitbit. Shareholder approval has already been received, but there are regulatory concerns due to a large amount of customer data being transferred to the buyer.
West End Bank (WEIN) – Merger Arbitrage – 3% upside
An illiquid nano cap bank transaction. This is a first time a bank that has converted from mutual holding company will be acquired by a credit union, so there are some concerns with the final price of the consideration.
Ben Franklin Bank (BFFI) – Merger Arbitrage – 6% upside
A very similar situation to WEIN.
Intrinsyc Technologies (ITC.TO) – Merger Arbitrage – 4% upside
Time sensitive idea with considerable IRR. Shareholder approval has already been received, so only court approval and other customary conditions are left. Closing estimated this month. Borrow is cheap and available.