Question on iCar Asia & Carsales

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Question asked 11/06/2021

Question on iCar Asia & Carsales

Hi my question relates to Icar Asia of which Carsales I understand are a major shareholder and which you topped up on recently. ICQ received an indicative bid of 50 cents a share back in Nov 2020 from US company Autohome but nothing further or concrete has been received since other than mention in Qtly reports that it is still in process subject to due diligence & approvals etc. They jumped to 35 cents last week but have drifted back to 29/30 level do you have any opinion on ICQ and what its potential maybe ?

Regards and also congratulations on an excellent publication very insightful and spot on to the current market !

Regards Peter

Answer

Hi Peter – thanks for the thumbs up – much appreciated

Carsales (CAR) own 50m shares / 11.5% of ICQ, we did buy CAR recently at ~$17. The investment for CAR is a small one in the scheme of it
Negotiations from what I understand with Autohome are still ongoing, although as you say, there is very few details being provided hence the SP has drifted.
Ultimately, the takeover premium has been taken out of ICQ, the market isn’t pricing in a deal which is understandable given the time it’s taken since the first bid was launched.
ICQ looks a reasonable risk/reward bet below 30c

chart

Icar Asia (ICQ)

LAST UPDATED 11/06/2021 16:37

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