A cheeky website about deals, dealmakers and anything else I find interesting. Edited by Ben Harrington. If you have a tip or want to discuss a story please feel free to email Betaville at ben@betaville.co.uk. 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.
There is plenty of blackslappery doing the rounds on so-called Fleet Street from those that have been involved in revealing the financial and political calamity that involves Lex Greensill's Greensill Capital, the former British Prime Minister David Cameron and steel "tycoon" Sanjeev Gupta...
Hain Celestial Group Inc, the US-listed healthy foods group, is working with advisers on a multi-million pound sale of its Farmhouse Fare division.
People following the situation said Hain Celestial Group has appointed advisers from Switzerland-based boutique advisory firm Whiteport Capital to find a buyer for UK-based Farmhouse Fare, which makes luxury desserts...
For those of you who read Betaville's recent story about HSBC and began thinking about switching bank (I have to admit I was one of them) you can rest easy - for now.
According to people following the bear tale, there isn't much of a tale after all despite some rather fruity allegations being aired.
So, that's one bank the market doesn't have to worry about for the moment.
Meanwhile, over at Credit Suisse.....
Betaville spent a bit of time sounding out top political types about the hot potato Robey Warshaw might find itself holding if and when George "the banker" Osborne is activated to pave the way for a foreign client's contentious takeover of a British blue chip corporation.
Here is what Sir Vince Cable said: "I can't really see how Osborne can add much value [to Robey Warshaw]."..
Well it didn't take long for rivals at Reuters to follow up on little old Betaville's report on Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti.
Hacks at the reputed news agency pretty much suggested exactly the same as the contents of the UNCOOKED Alert: Gold Fields said to ... - Part 2.
Below is the link to my piece on Betaville Intelligence from yesterday afternoon and the Reuters piece that came out a few hours after...
It would appear hacks at the venerable Wall Street Journal have finanlly decided to follow up little old Betaville's RARE Alerts on KPN, the Dutch telecoms giant.
The American financial newspaper is reporting the Wallenberg's EQT has teamed up with US-based Stonepeak Partners to mount a joint bid for KPN valuing it at over EURO 15 billion. Below is a link to the WSJ's "scoop":..
You have to wonder what sort of reaction will emerge once Sir Simon Robey calls upon George Osborne to smooth (some might call it lobby) the way with the British government for a foreign takeover of another London-listed corporation...
Splashed across the front page of the main book of the Evening Standard yesterday was the headline: "DELIVEROO FLOAT FAILS TO DELIVER".
Did, though, the float really fail deliver?
Well, for the investors that bought in at the IPO it probably appears that way on day one as the stock plunged by 30pc in intra-day trading...
There is talk in the market of a bear story brewing in HSBC.
Quite what the details are of the story remain to be seen. In fact, so far Betaville has failed to unearth any details or real facts despite trying from the confines of my office (also known as my flat).
Some banks, such as Credit Suisse, that had exposure to Bill Hwang's hedge fund Archegos have seen their share prices hit following losses, so perhaps this bear story is connected to that?..
Betaville hears The Conduit Club is set to re-open this summer.
Dubbed London's "wokest" private members club (Paul Polman, the former chief executive of FTSE 100-listed Unilever is said to be a member as is Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnson's partner) The Conduit Club shut when London-listed Metro Bank forced the £2650.00 a year invite only organisation into closure last October over an unpaid debt...
With Telit Communications back in play the spotlight is on some of the big investors that could seal the company's fate.
One investor that will likely have a role is Davide Serra, the Italian hedge fund manager who runs Algebris.
Serra has held a personal stake (i.e. a shareholding in his own name rather than through his fund) in Telit for quite some time. Indeed, in 2018 he disclosed via RNS he controlled 7pc of the company...
There is an interesting juxtaposition of two big market tales that involve Goldman Sachs this weekend.
The powerful investment bank and broker is selling a lot of stock in some of the world's biggest technology media companies for, it would appear, Bill Hwang's Archegos Capital as part of some forced develeraging. Hacks at Bloomberg have the latest on that tale. Below is the link:..
Investors were scratching their heads on yesterday afternoon after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley started to offer extremely large tranches of shares in some of the biggest technology and media companies in the world to anybody who was interested at a big discount.
The move sent some big name tech and media shares tumbling in late afternoon trade, with Discovery Communications collapsing 27pc and Viacom tumbling 25.6pc. Below is a link to Reuters story on the move:..
So, Betaville counts four top fund managers that have now publicly said they are shunning the £8.8 billion Deliveroo float since the publication of last Sunday's piece in the Mail on Sunday by yours truly and Emma Dunkley. Below is a link to that piece in case you don't recall:..
Betaville notes David Cumming, who manages billions of pounds for investors at Aviva, has just told Dominic O'Connell (another of Betaville's former boss from our on The Sunday Times) of BBC Radio 4 that he won't be investing in Deliveroo as part of its £8.8 billion flotation...
[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].