Florian Weidinger of Santa Lucia Asset Management presented his investment thesis on Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. (HK: 1157) at Asian Investing Summit 2025.

Thesis summary:

Zoomlion is a Hunan-based SOE and a dominant player in China’s construction machinery sector, recently trading at 8.9x FY25E earnings with a 6.1% dividend yield. Despite its association with the struggling domestic real estate sector, the business is increasingly diversified, both geographically and across equipment categories. The company’s overseas operations—where gross margins are materially higher—are expanding rapidly, now supported by a structural mix shift into aerial work platforms, earth-moving, mining, and agricultural machinery. Zoomlion’s foreign sales are still at an early stage, but with only 10% global market share, the company sees significant headroom in Belt and Road countries, as well as emerging markets in Europe and South America.

The investment thesis is anchored by multiple variant views on China. First, SOEs like Zoomlion, once seen as value traps, are undergoing structural reform. Incentives have shifted from asset hoarding to return optimization, leading to better capital allocation, dividends, and buybacks. Zoomlion is 15% owned by management and insiders—including through ESOPs—while the Hunan government retains a 14.5% stake. This alignment is reinforced by corporate actions: in October 2024, the company announced intentions to buy back H-shares, providing additional shareholder support.

Second, Zoomlion is a direct beneficiary of narrowing valuation gaps between its Hong Kong-listed H-shares and the more expensive Shanghai-listed A-shares. With a 32% A-H discount, the H-shares provide a margin of safety, and increasing Southbound interest—Chinese investors using Hong Kong’s Connect program to buy local equities—offers a catalyst for re-rating. Southbound Connect ownership of Zoomlion’s H-shares rose from 9% in June 2023 to nearly 29% by March 2025, reflecting growing domestic investor confidence in its international prospects and governance reform.

Finally, this is a business that’s being overlooked due to stale narratives. While domestic construction demand has weakened, replacement demand, policy moderation, and a sizable installed base offer downside protection. With foreign revenue ramping up, a structurally improving mix, and strong insider ownership, Zoomlion offers an underappreciated way to participate in both SOE reform and China’s shifting global industrial footprint. Investors are getting paid to wait through an above-market dividend and potential for valuation convergence, making Zoomlion a classic value play with meaningful optionality and multiple paths to upside.

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About the instructor:

Florian Weidinger is the CEO of Santa Lucia Asset Management (SLAM), a pan-Asian Singapore-based investment management business. Prior, he was the founder of Hansabay a specialist in active engagement and special situation investing, and one of the early adopters of the PRI Principles for Responsible Investment in Singapore. Hansabay contributed its activities into SLAM during 2021. Earlier in his career, Florian Weidinger was a vice president at Lehman Brothers where he last worked for the insolvency administration, after several years with the risk arbitrage, principal investing and investment banking divisions in London. Mr. Weidinger has sourced, managed and executed public and private investments in Europe, Africa and Asia, and across the capital structure. Strategies included event-driven, long/short, distressed/credit and special situations investing. Mr. Weidinger has held multiple board directorships across sectors, including in the public markets. Mr. Weidinger holds a BSc from City University London, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MS in Environment and Resources from Stanford University’s School of Earth Sciences.

Jiro Yasu, Patrick Rial, and Jeff Musial of Varecs Partners presented their investment thesis on Alphapolis (Japan: 9467) at Asian Investing Summit 2025.

Thesis summary:

Alphapolis is a small-cap Japanese content company operating in the high-growth manga and anime sectors, two of Japan’s most culturally significant and globally expanding creative exports. The company has developed a distinctive content generation model by harnessing a user-generated content (UGC) platform to source successful manga series, which are later published and adapted into anime. This approach produces a hit rate far superior to traditional publishing models and enables Alphapolis to operate with gross margins of 73%, operating margins of 22%, and a return on invested capital of 33%. Over the past five years, Alphapolis has grown revenue and EBIT at CAGRs of 16% and 11%, respectively, with manga sales now accounting for 74% of total revenue, up from just 24% in 2014.

Alphapolis’s growth trajectory is underpinned by two structural tailwinds. First, the global manga and anime markets — estimated at $15 billion and $22 billion, respectively — have been compounding at high-single to double-digit rates, especially overseas, where anime viewership among Gen Z in markets like the U.S. has surged. Second, as Japanese content assets remain scarce and consolidation intensifies, Alphapolis stands out as a rare, undervalued pure-play in the space. With the success of its anime titles such as *Gate* and *Moonlit Fantasy*, the company is scaling production, with five new series in development and early monetization of related IP through licensing and merchandise.

The business model is capital-light and highly scalable. Alphapolis serves as a publisher, producer, and partial investor in anime productions, earning royalties and downstream revenue from streaming rights and merchandise. Its unique UGC-driven content pipeline, which converts digital light novels into manga and then anime, has enabled it to systematically identify hits with significantly reduced risk and cost. The success of this approach has been demonstrated by sales surges following anime releases and a deepening library of monetizable IP. Moreover, digital distribution, now dominant across the manga industry, has dramatically improved profitability and reduced return rates.

Alphapolis recently traded at 19x forward P/E (14x ex-cash) and just 8x EV/EBIT, well below global and domestic peers. A conservative DCF model implies intrinsic value of ¥54 billion versus a recent market cap of ¥37.5 billion, suggesting 44% upside. With scarcity value, global growth drivers, a proven content monetization engine, and optionality in new revenue streams like gaming and licensing, Alphapolis offers an asymmetric opportunity in one of Japan’s most dynamic creative industries.

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About the instructors:

Jiro Yasu has two decades of investment experience in the Japanese equity markets including at Varecs Partners, First Eagle Investment Management and Daiwa Securities America. As the Representative Director of Varecs Partners, Jiro spearheads the investment firm’s efforts to identify mid-sized listed Japanese companies where corporate value can be realized for all stakeholders by working together with management. Jiro holds a BA in economics with a specialty in econometrics from Keio University.

Patrick Rial joined Varecs Partners in 2015 as Senior Analyst. He joined from J.P. Morgan Securities Japan where he worked in equity strategy and small cap research. Prior to J.P. Morgan, he was a product manager at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities. Mr. Rial began his career as a financial journalist covering Japanese equity markets. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2011. He holds a BA in economics and history from Georgetown University.

Jeff Musial joined Varecs Partners in 2021 as Senior Analyst. He joined from Burgundy Asset Management in Toronto where he was the Vice President of Asian Equities, focused on Japan. Prior to that, he worked in Asian Equities at RBC Global Asset Management in Hong Kong. Mr. Musial has been a CFA charterholder since 2015, and holds an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business in Canada. He also holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, and attended Nanjing University on a 1-year Mandarin studies scholarship.

Kimi Venkataraman and Sidd Thomas of India Intrinsic Value Consultants presented their investment thesis on UTI Asset Management Company (India: UTIAMC) at Asian Investing Summit 2025.

Thesis summary:

UTI Asset Management is one of India’s oldest and most respected names in investment management, with roots tracing back to its establishment by an act of Parliament in 1965. Today, the firm remains a top-ten player in the Indian asset management industry, with approximately $23 billion in assets under management and a 5.2% market share. Despite its legacy status and broad distribution footprint — 190 branches covering over 99% of Indian pin codes — UTI remains underappreciated in a market where mutual fund penetration is still in its infancy, with AUM-to-GDP sitting at just 15% compared to 140% in the U.S.

The company has a diversified business across mutual funds, pension mandates, and portfolio management services (PMS), with the latter accounting for 64% of AUM. Mutual fund assets, though smaller in absolute terms, benefit from a retail-heavy and largely direct distribution model, supported by a network of 55,000+ independent financial advisors. The company’s strong institutional backing — from State Bank of India, LIC, and two other public sector banks — gives it credibility and reach, particularly in India’s growing Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

UTI shares recently traded at ₹980, a P/E multiple of just 16x FY25 and a return on equity of 20%. In comparison, peers like HDFC AMC and Nippon Life command valuations of 27–32x earnings with ROEs in the 29–34% range. While UTI’s growth has been more modest — 5% annual revenue growth and 15% EPS CAGR over the last five years — the valuation discount appears excessive given the firm’s franchise value, brand recognition, and improving profitability metrics. The structural drivers of long-term AUM growth in India remain firmly in place, with the country still vastly underpenetrated by global standards.

Risks include potential market share erosion to more aggressive private sector competitors and sensitivity to short-term equity market sentiment. Nonetheless, UTI offers a compelling combination of heritage, scalability, and financial discipline, trading at a material discount to peers. With improving margins, strong distribution, and a tailwind from the formalization of savings in India, UTI represents a classic value opportunity in a structurally expanding industry.

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About the instructor:

Krishnaraj (Kimi) Venkataraman serves as a Director of Intrinsic Value Consultants Pte. Ltd., Singapore. He ran multiple investing partnerships in India delivering market beating returns consistently. Kimi started his career with Tata Steel and later Procter & Gamble, turned into an entrepreneur and ran several businesses. The last one, Marketics, was successfully sold to WNS. Kimi has been an investor for more than 30 years. In 2001 he stumbled upon the letters of Warren Buffett and nothing else was needed. Kimi is glad that Mr Buffett does not charge a royalty on returns made from his teachings.

Siddharth (Sidd) Thomas serves as a Partner of India Intrinsic Value Consultants. He founded Beaconsfield Investment Management in 2010. Prior to that he worked as an analyst covering Asian equities at Fairfax Financial Holdings and as an associate analyst at Credit Suisse equity research. Born and raised in Chennai, India, Siddharth completed his bachelor’s of science degree from Purdue University.

Peter Kennan of Black Crane Capital presented his investment thesis on Intelligent Monitoring Group (Australia: IMB) at Asian Investing Summit 2025.

Peter presented his original thesis at Asian Investing Summit 2024.

Thesis summary:

Intelligent Monitoring Group (IMG) is a leading Australian security services company that is undergoing a compelling transformation from a legacy alarm monitoring business to a growing, tech-enabled security platform. Historically known for signal-based monitoring, IMG has successfully positioned itself at the forefront of video guarding — a rapidly expanding segment that replaces human guards with AI-driven, remotely monitored video surveillance. The company’s shift in strategy is yielding tangible benefits, with strong tailwinds from commercial growth, margin expansion, and industry adoption of higher-tech solutions.

Video guarding, which is well underway in the U.S. and Europe, is now gaining momentum in Australia, where the addressable market includes over 10 million residential premises and 2.6 million registered businesses. IMG is uniquely positioned to lead this evolution due to its incumbent scale, trusted brand, and differentiated capabilities — including Grade A control rooms, the country’s largest installer network, and reseller partnerships. With minimal capex requirements and substantially higher operating margins than traditional guard-based models, the economics of video guarding are favorable. Management sees a multibillion-dollar opportunity, multiples larger than the current business size.

In addition to organic expansion, IMG continues to pursue value-accretive M&A, consolidating its leadership in the commercial and residential security segments. The company’s role as incumbent and disruptor gives it competitive advantages in acquiring smaller operators and scaling innovative technologies across its platform. Importantly, the downside appears well protected by a stable cash-generative legacy business, which supports reinvestment and provides optionality.

Despite these strengths, IMG recently traded at a low valuation relative to its long-term potential. With a strong balance sheet, growing commercial exposure, and early leadership in an underpenetrated but fast-evolving market, the company offers an asymmetric opportunity for patient investors. While the precise pace of adoption for video guarding remains a near-term unknown, the structural direction of the industry is clear — and IMG is best positioned to capitalize on it.

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About the instructor:

Peter Kennan is the founder of Black Crane Capital a catalyst/activist, deep value investment manager. Black Crane has a strong track record of creating value by actively engaging with under valued listed companies including the successful restructuring turnarounds of Elders, Emeco and MMA Offshore. Prior to founding Black Crane in 2009, Peter was a leading corporate financier with UBS Asia Pacific where he was Head of Asian Industrials Group, a team covering energy, infrastructure, resources, consumer/retail and general industrial companies. Prior to that, Peter was Head of Telecoms and Media for UBS Australia. Before UBS, Peter spent seven years with BP in a variety of engineering and commercial roles.