Betaville

Bears circle Arbor Realty Trust, Inc again... - Part 3

The bear has come out of the woods!

You might recall little old Betaville noted last week that the more ferocious bears were circling Arbor Realty Trust, the US-listed real estate investment trust that specialises in providing bridge financing for commercial property purchases...

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Young's pays £162 million the City Pub Group

Another deal has been announced this morning - Young & Co, also known as Young's, has agreed to buy London-listed rival the City Pub Group for £162 million with cash and shares.

This offer from Young's been pitched at a premium of 46pc. Below is a link to the details of the takeover deal of the City Pub Group, which is run by Clive Watson, father of Made in Chelsea (a UK-based reality TV programme) "star" Lucy Watson:..

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Mars Inc buys Hotel Chocolat for £534 million

Wow - Mars Inc has agreed to buy Hotel Chocolat, the London-listed cocao grower and cholate maker, for a whopping 169.8pc premium!

The American chocolate maker is paying £534 million for Hotel Chocolat. Below is a link to the details of the takeover transaction:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/HOTC/recommended-cash-acquisition/16211897..

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Jollyes owner said to be working with bankers on potential multi-million pound sale - sources

One of Britain's largest pet food retailers could be about to change hands.

City sources said the the private equity owners of Jollyes are working with advisers from Houlihan Lokey on strategic options for Jollyes, which sells cat, dog and bird food across the United Kingdom from retail centres.

Jollyes, which was founded in 1935, is owned by buy-out house Kester Capital...

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Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 61

Glencore has just shown going "hostile" in takeover negotiations is one way to get what you want.

The FTSE 100-listed mining group has just announced a deal to buy 77pc of Teck Resources steelmaking coal division for $6.93 billion.

Canada's Tech Resources and Glencore, now led by Gary Nagle, came to the agreement after months of talks that saw the latter make an unsolicited offer in May for the whole of the former. Below is a link to this morning's announcement:..

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Weekend review: BP and, er, that's it... - Part 3

The BP takeover target theory was aired again this weekend.

This, time, though it was Alex Brummer - veteran city journalist at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday - that had a stab at the story.

In a back page lead in the Mail on Sunday with the headline "will Shell and BP join forces in oil mega merger?"Brummer writes:..

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Bears circle Arbor Realty Trust, Inc again... - Part 2

Little old Betaville has done some digging around and it sounds like the bearishness around Arbor Realty Trust might be coming from some of the more ferocious bears.

However, the talk in the market is that perhaps these bears don't want to come out of the woods quite yet, so it might be a few weeks before they start mauling the US-listed real estate lender.

Watching.....

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Bears circle Arbor Realty Trust, Inc again...

Short sellers have been targeting Arbor Realty Trust for a while.

But now little old Betaville hears that there are some new bears circling the US-listed real estate investment trust that specialises in providing bridge financing for commercial property purchases.

And word is some of the bearish types eyeing Arbor may be of the more activist ilk.

Quite, though, what the angle is here for these bears remains to be seen.....

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PrettyLittleThing founder said to be weigh multi-billion pound takeover bid for TopShop, reports The Times

Hat tip to Isabella Fish, the new (ish) retail editor at The Times.

Tucked away in her piece about Shein, the Chinese retail giant, registering an interest in purchasing TopShop from Asos was an almost more interesting line about Umar Kamani putting together a rival bid by forming consortium with Middle Eastern investors to buy the fahsion brand. Below is a link to Isabella's story:..

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Butcher's said to be working with Houlihan Lokey on potential sale - sources

Dealmaking hasn't been easy this year in the UK market but if there is one area that continues to defy the slowdown it's pet care.

And the latest company at the centre of takeover talk is Butcher's, a privately-owned posh dog food maker based in Northamptonshire in the British midlands.

City sources said Butcher's is said to be working with advisers from Houlihan Lokey on "strategic options", which as most readers know is banker parlance for a potential sale...

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UK Commercial REIT Limited in £1 billion all share merger talks with Picton Property Income

It begins.

There has been plenty of talk about consolidation among some of the London-listed Real Estate Investment Trusts over the last six months but so far not much action.

This morning, though, UK Commercial REIT Limited has been forced to confirm it is in all share merger talks with Picton Property Income Limited following "speculation". Below is a link to this morning's announcement:..

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Brummer on BT Group

Veteran City columnist Alex Brummer has this morning dedicated most of his column in the Daily Mail to the BT Group bid rumour that been circulating the London market for the last four years (at least)...

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