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.
A decent scoop from American digital publishing start up Axios.
According to Axios, Warner Brothers Discovery is in talks to merge with Paramount to create a $40 billion media entertainment behemoth...
The end of year dealmaking rush continues.
This time Aon, one of the world's largest insurance brokers, has just announced it has bought a property and casualty broker NFP from private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners and HPS Investment Partners for $13.4 billion. Below is a link to today's deal details:..
So, it turns out it wasn't Bloomberg that broke the story about LXI REIT's £4 billion merger talks with LondonMetric.
It was, in fact, React News that broke the story 15 minutes before Bloomie pumped out their own version.
Hat tip, then, to React News for landing the scoop and apologies for attributing it to our arch rivals at Bloomberg...
There has been talk of consolidation among London-listed property companies and real estate investment trusts for a while and it would appear Bloomberg have just broken a decent scoop about a potential landmark transaction.
According to Bloomie, FTSE 250-listed REIT LondonMetric is in talks with to merge with LXI REIT. Below is a link to the Bloomberg scoop:..
Japan's Nippon Steel Corporation has finally confirmed its interest in buying United States Steel Corporation with a $14.9 billion recommended takeover offer. Below is a link to this morning's announcement:..
Apologies for the tardy follow up about OCI; you may have noticed little old Betaville was a bit busy on a few other things late last week.
Anyway, it would appear OCI, the Dutch Euronext-listed chemicals company, has appeared to confirm the disposal aspect of last week's UNCOOKED Alerts...
Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman, City Editor of Sky News, is up early with a decent scoop about Mike Ashley's Frasers Group.
According to Kleiny - a former colleague during our time working on The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph - Frasers Group is in talks with private equity firm Apax about buying Matchesfashion, the online upmarket fashion retailer...
Matthew Moulding has just upped his stake in Kelso, the activist firm that is pushing for the break up of some of THG.
This morning Kelso - which is led by veteran City stockbroker John Goold - declared that Moulding, the founder and boss of THG, now has just over 6pc of THG. Below is a link to the announcement:..
I see arch rivals at Bloomberg have finally decided to follow up little old Betaville's recent UNCOOKED Alerts about OCI N.V., the Euronext-listed Dutch chemicals company.
Bloomie today reported that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is in talks with OCI about buying the whole business for $5 billion. Below is the link to the Bloomie tale:..
CVC Capital Partners, Carlyle and an Abu Dhabi-backed group are all said to be involved in the strategic review involving OCI N.V., the Euronext-listed Dutch chemicals company.
CVC Capital Partners, Europe's largest private equity firm, and US-based Carlyle are rumoured to have submitted non-binding offers last week for some or all of OCI, said people following the situation...
Dapper David Faber of CNBC today reports that Arcelor Mittal may be willing to pay up to $45 a share in cash for United States Steel Corporation, the US-listed steel producer. Below is the link to his piece:
OCI N.V., the Euronext-listed Dutch chemicals company, has come back into focus amid talk it could soon be involved in a major corporate transaction, such as a spin off or even a takeover for the whole company.
Some people following the situation had heard rumours a Gulf-based firm is interested in buying the whole of OCI...
It took a while but London-listed Impellam Group, Dutch recruitment firm Headfirst Global and wily Lord Ashcroft have finally agreed a deal.
Loyal readers might recall that it was little old Betaville that first revealed in July this year that a Dutch suitor was interested in buying Impellam, a recruitment firm. Below is a link to that article:..
Dealmaking may be a bit lacklustre at the moment but if there is one sector that is seeing a lot of activity right now it's the biotechnology industry.
The latest deal to be announced is AstraZeneca's $1.1 acquisition of Icosavax, a US-listed developer of vaccines for respitory diseases...
The Wall Street Journal has landed another cracking Sunday deal scoop.
According to the WSJ, real estate investment firm Arkhouse Management and asset manager Brigade Capital submitted a $5.8 billion offer for Macy's on December 1st.
Below is a link to the whole story if you want to read the original piece:..
Punchy stuff from The Times.
The front page hamper story appear to be suggesting that FTSE 100-listed mining group Anglo American - whose shares have halved since Duncan Wenblad took charge - could become a takeover target, possibly for Glencore.
Now, to be fair The Times is basing the story on, er, a theory from a Jefferies analyst...
Loyal readers will know that little old Betaville has to deal with well paid corporate public relations advisers on a daily basis.
These characters - also known as spin doctors, spinners and flacks - are part of any daily business hack's reporting routine. That's because when you discover a good story you often have to deal a company's PR team ahead of publication...
[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].