Singtel announced it is acquiring a 25% stake in STT GDC. The deal was well flagged and we believe makes strategic sense but the detail is slightly underwhelming suggesting the stock is likely to see some profit taking near term.
Greater China Strategy | Alpha Picks: February Conviction Calls Chinese equities recovered in January, with the HSI and MSCI China rising 6.9% and 5.0% mom, respectively. Given the supportive macro policy environment, we maintain a constructive view on the markets despite risk of further volatility in February. Accordingly, we are adding Alibaba, Ganfeng Lithium, and Minth to our BUY list, while adding Meituan to our SELL list. Indonesia Company Results | Bank Negara Indonesia (BBNI IJ/B...
Singapore equities delivered a strong January performance, with the STI rising 5.6% to fresh record highs amid heightened geopolitical tensions that drove flight-to-safety flows. Manufacturing activity remained in mild expansion, led by electronics and AI-related demand. Market/corporate catalysts during the month include REIT earnings, IPO interest in Catalist and continued strength in gold-linked counters.
In our latest Asia Monthly, we discuss the performance of major Asian credit indices and review UST curve movements in January 2026. We also provide a recap of major news and macroeconomic releases, including those from the US, China, India, Indonesia and Japan. In addition, we summarise the top/bottom performers, recent USD bond issuances and rating actions in Asian corporate credit, as well as a list of our recent research. The Asia Monthly publication serves to keep investors updated on ...
Japan’s Generative AI app market accelerated sharply in 2025, led by AI Assistant apps, with downloads up +126% YoY and in app purchase (IAP) revenue surging 329% YoY. ChatGPT dominated the category, ranking No.1 among GenAI apps by both downloads and IAP revenue. It is also the top non game app by downloads in Japan. Despite rapid adoption, domestic developers remain under represented, creating a strategic opportunity for ecosystem embedded players. Analyst Thao Nguyen highlights Rakuten as a b...
Tower revenue trends were slightly slower across the board except for Indus Towers as it benefited again from VIL’s network catch up spend. EBITDA margins were roughly stable across EM except in Indonesia which faces the near-term pressure of the XL-Smartfren consolidation. Africa continue to perform well and the LatAm Towers space had a decent Q3.
Rakuten’s AI strategy has evolved from experimentation to generating tangible impacts. Analyst Thao Nguyen explains what distinguishes Rakuten from both global and domestic peers and the firm’s commitment to provide AI for everyone and how that translates into earnings.
In our inaugural Asia Monthly for 2026, we share our regional credit outlook for the year, with a focus on China, Macau, India and Indonesia. We also provide a review of 2025, in which we discuss the performance of major Asian credit indices and review UST curve movements for the year. In addition, we provide a recap of major news and macroeconomic releases in December 2025, summarise the Top/Bottom performers, recent USD bond issuances and rating actions in Asian corporate credit, as well a...
Singtel and XLSmart were the standout performers in 2025 among ASEAN telcos as continued weak macro held back other markets even those which have seen consolidation. In 2026, we think the benefit of consolidation should be more apparent in the latter. Singtel and TRUE remain our top picks in the region.
2025 was another tougher year for the Japanese incumbents; with KDDI and SoftBank rising modestly and NTT flat, but all (including Rakuten) underperforming a strong Nikkei. This despite prices rising in Mobile. We think the sector is modestly undervalued and will grind higher with EPS. SoftBank remains our top pick.
2025 was when the EM Telco bull market really took off. Two of our top picks returned >100% and four more 50%+. We make one change to our top picks for 2026 from 2025, introducing Megacable in exchange for IHS Towers. In a separate note out today we run through the Themes that we think will drive performance in 2026.
EM Telcos have been strong for some time, but 2025 was a banner year. Multiples have expanded somewhat, but we remain bullish, as we think EM Telcos operate on a long cycle driven by market structure which has now definitively turned up We therefore see EM Telcos in a true stealth bull market as conditions still seem ripe for the best to exhibit pricing power and hence GDP+ revenue growth and rising ROIC. This note explains the key themes we see for 2026.
2025 was a banner year for EM Telcos, following on from a good 2023 and 2024. As we head towards the New Year we thought it might be useful to highlight a few of the thematic pieces we wrote last year that we think help to highlight why EM Telcos are in a clear and sustained bull market and why therefore we are confident that 2026 will be another good year for investors in the space, as fundamentals continue to look much stronger than in the past. I hope you enjoy reading these and happy holiday...
India’s mobile revenue growth moderated as expected, after lapping last year’s tariff increase. As the IPO of Jio nears, we foresee another potential price increase. Separately for Vodafone Idea, we think AGR relief seems likely but we question whether this is sufficient to enable the company to reach “escape velocity” and become a viable 3rd operator again.
EM & Japanese Telcos have more DC capacity than those in other regions. In this short note, we look at the current and future Data Center (DC) capacity for the telcos in our coverage as well as the potential valuation for these assets, in an attempt to contextualise this exposure.
In our latest Asia Monthly, we discuss the performance of major Asian credit indices and review UST curve movements in November 2025. We also provide a recap of major news and macroeconomic releases, including those from the US, China, India, Indonesia and Japan. In addition, we summarise the top/bottom performers, recent USD bond issuances and rating actions in Asian corporate credit, as well as a list of our recent research. The Asia Monthly publication serves to keep investors updated on ...
EM Telco earnings season was extremely strong, and with 8 of our 10 picks reporting this month, our picks rose 6.8% on average in November and are now up 80% YTD. With Singtel having strongly outperformed, Bharti we swap the latter in for the former; this note also includes key news & other thoughts, to try to help investors generate alpha within the EM Telco space.
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