Great to see that people are finding this board!
Probably better for somebody else to answer the questions about Nanyang - MNT or Owl?
Keck Seng has been listed for a long time. In the past there may have been a need to raise capital for the macau or vietnamese projects, but they haven't issued equity since then. Most of the cash that's there now has come from the macau flat sales and vietnamese hotels. We know they are good capital allocators and patient for the right deal to come along, so cash will naturally build up in bull markets when not many great opportunities appear. Many real estate markets around the world are pretty bubbly, maybe not Japan and parts of the U.S., interest rates are at historical lows, and we haven't had a real recession in a few years. It made sense to borrow at really cheap rates for property purchases in Japan and the US, both to hedge the currencies and to juice the gains. The way the do it is not very risky as the income from the properties is well over their interest expense, they buy after prices have fallen sharply, and they have the balance sheet to back it up if need be. The leverage at the corporate level is also likely a currency hedge.
My understanding is that some people just have a personal goal of running a public company. I think it's a point of pride for the family. It's also not so easy to go private on the HK market. A privatization proposal can be blocked by 10% of the minority shareholders. In this case, that's only about 2.5% of the total shares outstanding. It looks like 3 or 4 funds own enough to cover that, so it wouldn't be too hard for them to unite and demand fair value. So then you have to ask, what is the best use of the family's capital? To buy an additional stake in all of their properties at fair value, or to look for more undervalued opportunities?
Please send me the interview, I would be very interested to read it! willthrower at gmail
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