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.
US-listed AdvancePierre Food Holdings could be involved in an M&A transaction in the near future.
People following the company noted rumours the business is likely to be involved in an "imminent" deal - although the precise nature of the transaction is unclear.
One person speculated a potential bidder for Advance Pierre Food Holdings, which specialises in making sandwiches, could be Hormel Food Corporation...
Whether you work in UK financial markets or not clearly the biggest news event of the day was Theresa May's decision to call a snap general election.
What I'm wondering, though, is whether this bunch of centre ground, pro-European politicians, businessmen and City types - led by PR supremo Roland Rudd, founder of Finsbury - will break cover before the general election with their new political party or wait until Labour is decimated on June 8?..
Dutch digital security company Gemalto is being circled by a mystery buyer.
People claiming to be familiar with the matter said Gemalto is rumoured to have received a non-binding proposal conditional on due diligence although it's not clear what price the buyer is willing to pay for business.
Some people suggested the approach for Gemalto had come from French IT services group Atos...
I see Dom Walsh, a top hack, has made a decent attempt to skewer embattled Deutsche Bank in today's business diary column over Tom Cooper's "mysterious" decision to quite the financial institution...
Driving home from the gym this evening I was pleased to hear former colleague and boss Kamal Ahmed, ex City editor of The Sunday Telegraph and now BBC Economics Editor, come on Radio 4's news programme.
However, the aural experience was disturbed by the fact that interviewer insisted Kamal deliver his interpretation of the today's Office of National Statistics figures whilst playing table tennis. Yes, you read it correctly - whilst playing table tennis...
Now that the bid battle for Stada appears to be done and dusted (you never know, though, there could be a final twist) little old Betaville would like to remind readers of the piece I published in early December about how the German pharmaceutical company was working with bankers on "strategic options" after receiving informal expressions of interest. Below is the link to the piece:..
It took a bit longer than I expected but Independent Oil and Gas has finally confirmed my tale about it buying a North Sea pipeline from Tullow Oil. I have pasted the link below:
Zak had already slung his hook by the time I turned up today so the charming Matt Brown was in the chair instead. Here is a link to today's session:
http://tiptv.co.uk/ma-update-chinese-billionaire-eyeing-shaftesbury-betaville/..
The Mergermarket Group is in advanced discussions to buy financial technology company TIM Group from its founders and investors, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Well-placed sources said the Mergermarket Group, which is being advised Deloitte, has effectively agreed a deal with TIM Group's founders, Colin Berthoud and Richard Koppel, to purchase TIM Group for around £30 million...
Oh look: China Africa Resources - now called Pembridge Resources - has effectively confirmed yesterday's jackanory. Click on the link below for all the detail about the move to become an investment company.
Here are a couple of interesting nuggets on the Centaur Media story I broke a few weeks ago.
Good sources have told little old Betaville that Centaur's Homebuilding and Renovation division might be worth substantially more than I previously reported. People involved in the sale process believe Home Interest is likely to be sold for around £30 million, which is about half of Centaur Media's current market capitalisation...
Remember my tale about about China Africa Resources? (in case you don't, here is the link: https://www.www.betaville.co.uk/news/revealed-the-real-reason-china-africa-resources-changed-its-name-to-pembridge-resources-sources). ..
Bloomborg did well to get its series of Panera Bread scoops this week, so hat tip to the journos who landed those tales (I wasn't too far behind them but as a one man band freelancer it's sometimes tricky to get things stood up as quickly as a global financial media giant)...
"People close to the situation" have reached out to little old Betaville with some more information on CPA Global, the £2 billion patent management company I wrote about last week and also in last weekend's The Sunday Times.
According to these "people", Cinven is in the "early stage" of studying "options" for CPA, which is expected to generate around £150 million in operating profits (or EBITDA if your a banker) in 2016/2017...
I see the New York Post has published a rather lengthy piece about how MSG Networks is looking to sell itself. Here is the link in case you missed it:
http://nypost.com/2017/04/03/msg-networks-is-looking-to-sell/..
Zak was back in the hotseat this week, so click on the link below if you want to watch the latest session.
http://tiptv.co.uk/kraft-heinz-bidder-reckitts-food-division-betaville/..
Looking over today's coverage of the Pollent Street Capital / BC Partners bid for Shawbrook I was somewhat dismayed that none of the mainstream business sections picked up on the fact that the private equity firms had actually gone "hostile" on challenger bank by taking their offer directly to shareholders...
Madison Square Garden, the owner of some of America's most famous sports teams, is said to be working with investment bankers on potential strategic options, which may eventually lead to a sale of the controversial company.
According to people claiming to be familiar with the matter, Madison Square Garden has been sounding out bankers from JP Morgan and advisers from boutique firm Liontree about its potential "strategic options"...
Independent Oil and & Gas made an announcement this morning. Here is the link in case you missed it:
Private equity firm Cinven is weighing a £2 billion sale of CPA Global, one of the world's largest patent management companies.
Cinven has invited investment banks and advisory firms to pitch for the mandate to sell or float CPA Global later this year, according to sources familiar with the matter...
[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].