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.
Brexit-supporting Crispin Odey might think that Betaville has got it in for him as this website has run a 20-part series highlighting the veteran hedgie's travails with his flagship Odey European Fund...
Hat tip the to the Kleinmanator for tonight's Aveva / Schneider merger scoop. Kleinman and I didn't always get along when we worked together at The Daily Telegraph but credit where credit is due. Here is a link to his piece:
http://news.sky.com/story/ftse-250-software-group-aveva-to-unveil-3bn-schneider-merger-11020604 ..
Central Asia Metals, a copper mining company, is in advanced discussions about carrying out a large M&A deal in Macedonia.
This morning the AIM-listed company suspended its shares following an enquiry from Betaville on Friday regarding the deal talks.
It's not clear which company Central Asia Metals is in talks with but industry sources suggested the takeover target could be the Sasa mine, a Lead and Zinc producer based in North East Macedonia...
Bloomberg last night reported that Indian billionaire Kumar Birla is evaluating a bid for aluminium company Constellium. Below is the link:
The Observer and The Guardian have been banging on about the commercial interests of Sir Lynton Crosby's "communications" wing for the last four years (see the link below).
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/08/lynton-crosby-tory-strategy-lobbying-firm..
The Chinese appeared to have lost some of their appetite for Western businesses after a couple of years of hoovering up some of America and Europe's largest companies. In fact, Betaville wrote a piece on the topic in the The Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago. Below is the link to that feature:..
I see the top brass at Estee Lauder yesterday sent an internal "memo" to employees to quash the rather detailed takeover speculation aired in recent days, including by yours truly in The Sunday Times this/last weekend. Unsurprisingly, some financial media organisations ate it up in the usual manner of a pissing contest...
There is a third person chasing Thomas Ryan in the British courts to recover money invested in one the mystery property developer's (hairbrained?) schemes...
So, it would appear this Hassan Gozal chap is a rather savvy punter after all!
The construction tycoon with ties to Turkey, Kurdistan and Azerbaijan has quietly been building a stake in Genel Energy via his vehicle Daax Corp, an Azeri conglomerate. Here is a link to Betaville's previous piece published in July:
Looking over today's coverage of the Provident Financial fiasco on the front pages of the UK business sections I was reminded of a piece written by my esteemed former boss - Richard, the "Fletch", Fletcher - in The Daily Telegraph six years ago. ..
Hat tip to my old Telegraph colleague Harry Wilson, now City editor at The Times, who today landed a rather good scoop about Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds during the bailout, suing his old employer for hundreds of thousands of pounds of unpaid bonuses.
Below is a link to Harry's story, which was splashed across the front page of the The Times business section:..
Credit Suisse has failed to get a Norwegian tycoon's claim thrown out of the High Court court and could be heading for a messy trial with plenty of juicy disclosure.
Court moles have got in touch with Betaville to inform this website that on July 11, 2017 the Honourable Justice Teare dismissed Credit Suisse's attempt to "strike out" with summary judgement Brova's multi-million claim over the Hertsmere House fiasco...
It never ceases to amaze Betaville why bankers, lawyers and accountants read their uber confidential documents on the tube (or subway for Betaville's US/global readers).
But Betaville isn't complaining as occasionally this website/business journalist has picked up the odd jackanory from sneaking a peak while squashed in the tube...
This is a bit late in the day but Betaville thought it might be worthwhile flagging up another highly amusing and insightful column from one my favourite business commentators: Alistair Osborne, now of The Times.
If you have been following what's being going on at the scandal ridden Telit then Alistair's piece from yesterday's section is well worth a read. Below is the link:..
Rockwell Collins is said to be working with a second investment banking adviser amid speculation a mystery company is weighing a counter offer for the avionics business.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Rockwell Collins recently asked Citigroup to work alongside defence advisors JP Morgan following an approach from United Technology Corporation...
[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].