Ann: AIA 2018 Interim Results Presentation, page-4

@Blommer

Agree with you, AIA does have better fundamentals (I would add freehold of land and a simpler tax structure to the points you have already mentioned), so I think it deserves to be valued at some premium to SYD.

Until not long ago the opposite was actually true (i.e. SYD was trading at a higher EV/EBITDA than AIA), which is why I have been a shareholder of AIA for a lot longer than I have owned SYD shares.

Now that the valuation gap has been closed after the US-yield-driven selling frenzy (and AIA is actually trading at a 3% premium to SYD on a TTM EV/EBITDA basis), I see them as being equally attractive as real-yield propositions, and have therefore recently built a meaningful position in SYD as well.

Bond yields aside, in terms of medium-term re-rating prospects, I do see AIA as the more likely to positively surprise, though, given how conservative the implied earnings guidance for JH2018 has been.