Evolveus Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 In the recent Khrom Cpaital letter, Eric Khrom laid out the case for a new position in the fund refered to as "Lender A", a micro lender that recieved the first mutual banking license in its country in 13 years with a CEO that owns 45% of the equity. There has been some speculation as to who is "Lender A", and I think 'Yours Truly' from the board here is correct in saying that it is Finbond. I did some digging with a friend and found intersting stuff on an Indian micro lender SKS. While SKS looked interesting on the surface of relative valuation, I confirmed that Finbond got the first license in South Africa since 1998 and that its CEO owns 46.4% of the equity. I will attached the micro finance report from JPM which shows SKS's valuation relative to peers (pg. 17) and I'll also attached the recent report and correspondance from Finbond showing executive equity stakes. SKS legwork (don't know if my hyper links carry thru with copy and paste) I've been googling and trying to connect some dots. I've found a few things that may be indicating it is an Indian lender, but not certain. Attached is a really cool JPM microfinance report from 2012. There is a a great chart on page 17 showing P/E, P/BV, & ROE. The obvious valuation outlier in that chart is SKS of India. On page 8 of the report, they briefly mention the Andhra Pradesh 'microfinance crisis.' I found a brief article that elaborates on that 2010 'crisis' HERE. from that article: "In particular, the dramatic expansion of microfinance in Andhra Pradesh, a state in southern India, ended in a crisis that caused significant ripples across the industry. The common response to this crisis has been to call for better regulated microfinance operations. The latter is undoubtedly important yet, in what follows, I suggest that the Andhra Pradesh crisis opens a window onto bigger issues of debt and distress within agrarian India." I haven't had a lot of luck with SKS financials though as far as determining equity positions of officers/CEO, as SKS appears the founder left the company in late 2011. A couple of dots • According to almighty Google, there are only three publicly traded microfinance companies: 1. Group Compartamos (Mexico) 2. Equity Bank (Kenya) 3. SKS (India) • Given that Khrom is a man of the Value Cloth, I am making the assumption that he is focusing on SKS due to low relative valuation presented in the JPM report following the microfinance crisis in India. • I also found that American venture capitalist Sequoia Capital have taken a stake in SKS in the last year or so. • Times of India newspaper reports RBI urged to ready new bank license norms - from November 2012 • SKS turns the corner and reports first profit in 7 quarters. • Quote from CFO in recent quarterly statement: "Fully providing for the Andhra Pradesh exposure, optimization of cost structure, delivering promises, coming out of the supply-side shock, portfolio protection and recapitalization are the building blocks of SKS Microfinance Limited's turnaround strategy,” said Mr S. Dilli Raj, Chief Financial Officer, SKS Microfinance Limited. “By returning to profitability, we have successfully emerged out of the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis. With a capital adequacy of 39% and sufficient liquidity, we are well equipped to reap the fruits of sector consolidation, advantageous change in the competitive landscape, a favourable regulatory climate and, of course, the enhanced business prospects." A couple of holes • I am having trouble finding management compensation, shares owned etc. Khrom's statement about the CEO's 45% interest is compelling and I'd really like to verify that. • There are loads of micro finance companies out there, but seemingly only a few public. I'd like further confirmation on Khrom's mention of LEA receiving the first domestic bank to be granted a banking license in thirteen years. At any rate, that's a start. Of course, I could be totally wrong, but I think I'm sniffing in the right direction. FINDBOND Correspondance Thanks for your enquiry about Finbond Mutual Bank. We obtained the first new banking license from the SA Reserve Bank since 1998. The bank that started off in South Africa just before us, is Capitec, who bought over the banking license from Regal Bank. As far as the shares question is concerned , the answer is on page 36 , point 5 of the attached 2012 report. Anton van Sittert Investment Manager Finbond Mutual Bank Tel: +27 (0)12 460-7288 Fax: 087 231 6127 Cell: 071 898 3843 anton@finbond.co.za www.finbondmutualbank.co.za Finbond_annual_report.pdfJPM_microfinance_report.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phaceliacapital Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Ownership finbond from Bloomberg: Moneyline 2027: 44.67% Net 1 Finance Holdings: 25.91% http://www.net1.com/media/65388/group_structure_december2012.pdf Company Overview of Moneyline 2027 (pty) Limited Snapshot PeopleCompany Overview Moneyline 2027 (pty) Limited operates as an investment holding company. The company was incorporated in 1998. South Africa Founded in 1998 Key Executives for Moneyline 2027 (pty) Limited Dr. Willem Van Aardt Director Pershing also has a 7.5% stake. edit: the above information concerns Finbond Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watsa_is_a_randian_hero Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I'm confused - is this a mutual company or a publicly traded company? How is Khrom buying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrider Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Finbond is listed on the JSE - so tradable if you have a broker that allows you onto that exchange. I think my vote goes to Finbond here - the website also states that management owns 46% of the equity - which aligns with the statement in the Khrom letter. Unfortunately the attached report doesn't display correctly for me (p 36, point 5 referenced). Cheers - C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolveus Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 Sunrider, My vote is for Finbond as well. And page 36 of that report does not show up properly on my iPhone but it came thru fine on my work PC. So yes, I could confirm the ceo's equity stake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phaceliacapital Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Who here bought around topic inception ? It's at 170 now, amazing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indythinker85 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Am i reading this correctly stock went from $8 to $160 in a few months?! http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FGL:SJ unrelated, anyone know more of his positions (not in his letters)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I wasn't able to figure out Eric Khrom's other positions, but I did locate a bunch of Khrom Capital's older letters, which hint at some of them: http://www.scribd.com/doc/148404844/Eric-Khrom-of-Khrom-Capital-2013-Q1-Letter http://www.scribd.com/doc/148405401/Eric-Khrom-of-Khrom-Capital-2012-Q4-Letter http://www.scribd.com/doc/148405390/Eric-Khrom-of-Khrom-Capital-2012-Q3-Letter http://www.scribd.com/doc/148405500/Eric-Khrom-of-Khrom-Capital-2012-Q1-Letter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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