A cheeky website about deals, dealmakers and anything else I find interesting. Edited by Ben Harrington. If you have a tip, want to discuss a story or have a subscription enquiry please feel free to email Betaville at [email protected]. Betaville can also be reached at Whats App, Signal or Telegram. Betaville's Twitter handle is @bharringtonw11 and you can message me via Twitter with stories.
The boys over at FT Alphaville might have knocked off until the New Year but don't worry, little old Betaville will keep on going until 2015.
First, let's address this rather cheeky bid from for Afren from Seplat, which I have to admit I had never heard of until this morning.
Afren said today that after seeing its share price rise significantly on Friday, it had received:..
I hear Quindell's board met this afternoon to discuss some of the findings of PricewaterouseCoopers's "independent review" into the beleaguered company's claims processing business...
The Financial Times is really on fire at the moment. Following yesterday's scoop about a takeover bid for Lloyd's of London insurer Catlin the venerable newspaper this afternoon broke the story about the owner of British Airways considering a 1.1 billion Euro offer for Aer Lingus. Here is a link to that piece:..
Hat tip to Bryce Elder, the stock market reporter over at the Financial Times...
I see from today's newspaper coverage there were a whole bunch of suitors for Lastminute.com, the online travel agent that was the icon of the dot com boom and bust in the late 90s/early noughties...
Wow - Talisman Energy has leapt over 45pc in early trade after agreeing to a knockout $8.3 billion offer from Spain's Repsol...
Gary Parkinson, the stock market reporter over at The Times, is back on top form with a brilliant and amusing column on bonuses.
Here is a link to Parky's piece:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/tradesecrets/article4297079.ece..
There has been lots of coverage in the last few days about Repsol's renewed interest in buying the ailing Canadian oil company Talisman Energy for up to $8 billion. Here is a link to a Financial Times piece: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c74867e-8202-11e4-a9bb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Ltzlu99D..
The festive season is already starting to take its toll on me but I dragged myself into Tip TV this morning. Here is a link to today's clip: http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/mergers-acquisitions/
UPDATE: Apologies. I think I said in today's Tip TV clip that I wrote about Severn Trent for dealReporter in February 2014 but it was actually published in late January. ..
Much of today's coverage in the British newspaper business sections is focused on Tesco's terrible problems so I thought would post a piece linked to the retailer even if that connection is pretty tenuous...
Here is an interesting snippet on the Rio Tinto/Glencore situation...
Hat tip to David Gelles of The New York Times for landing the scoop about US drugs giant Merck talking to Cubist Pharmaceuticals about a takeover deal of more than $7 billion...
Apologies for a headline that posits a question. The problem is Betaville's best sources are certain Permira is the private equity firm that is taking a look at Bwin.party Digital Entertainment. However, people familiar with the private equity firm have tried to pour cold water on the tale, denying the buy-out shop has any interest in the online gaming company. Talk about awkward. ..
There appear to be some pretty divergent views within the financial media about what mega deal Vodafone is planning to do next.
Last Friday Bloomberg reported that Vodafone was looking at a $130 billion merger with Jon Malone's Liberty Global: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-28/vodafone-said-to-eye-takeover-of-malone-s-liberty-global.html..
I see Dalian Wanda, the multi-billion dollar Chinese conglomerate, is still getting a lot of attention in the British newspaper business pages - this time for getting into pig farming and pork production. Here is a link to a Financial Times piece on the topic: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a3571d66-7a26-11e4-8958-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3KpuRbCmr..
I see most of today's broadsheet newspaper business sections have given Dalian Wanda's interest in buying a stake in Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, the US studio behind "The Hunger Games", a lot of space and attention...
Here is an interesting snippet on a live M&A situation...
Here is something to cheer you up on a cold, grey Monday morning - a couple of my Betaville """"""exclusive""""" jackanories have just been confirmed. ..
It sounds like the Mouchel sale I was talking about on Tip TV yesterday morning is getting closer to completion...
[Disclaimer - the information on Betaville does not consitute any form of investment recommendation and is not intended to be relied upon by readers in making, or refraining from, any investment decisions].