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 [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.
Readers following the complex takeover saga involving FTSE 250-listed gaming software company Playtech might spend a bit time of digesting Alisatir "Acerbic" Osborne's column in The Times this morning...
I see Reuters has finally picked up on the Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy bid rumours little old Betaville published on late last year. Below is a link to the Reuters piece in case you missed it earlier:
Matthew Lynn, business commentator at Betaville's former employer The Sunday Telegraph, was at it again this weekend: making audacious predictions about potential megadeals this year...
The Unilever might be a target for Nelson Peltz theory was first aired last summer but now it appears to be have become fact.
Indeed, hacks at the venerable Financial Times have dug a decent scoop today about Peltz building a stake after the botched £50 billion tilt GlaxoSmithKline's consumer division. Below is a link to the FT piece:..
For some reason breaking big deal stories on a Saturday morning appears to be all the rage at the moment.
Last week it was The Sunday Times with its Unilever / GlaxoSmithKline mega scoop and this morning it is Bloomberg's turn with story about Vodafone looking at purcahsing Three UK from CK Hutchinson. Below is the link to Bloomie's tale:..
Dominic O'Connell, a former boss during my time jobbing on The Sunday Times busines desk, appears to be suggesting something similar to Sky News's Ian "Kingy" King earlier in the week...
That's weird: the link to Nickleby's involvement in JKO Play's bid for Playtech no longer takes you to the page where the firm promoted its role in advising and financing Eddie Jordan's consortium. Below is the same link I pasted in yesterday morning's Part 3:
So, it turns out news of Nickleby's involvement with Eddie Jourdan's tilt at Playtech was bearish after all!
This morning JKO Play has announced it is withdrawing its approach for Playtech, the FTSE 250-listed gaming software company. Below is the link:..
JKO Play, the investment vehicle led by former Formula One boss Eddie Jordan, has lined up Nickleby Capital to advise and raise the financing for its £2.7 billion plus takeover bid for Playtech, the FTSE 250-listed gaming company.
The thing is, though, is Betaville can't tell whether Nickleby's appointment is bullish or bearish for JKO's counter tilt at Playtech...
American financial media heavyweights TheWall Street Journal and Bloomberg were both claiming to have landed the scoop about Microsoft's $70 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard.
They both published within minutes of each other but because little old Betaville was lunching with a friendly flack it was hard to tell which media outfit published the scoop first...
Well, it looks like Ian "Kingy" King is first out of the traps to highlight something little old Betaville had been ruminating on with an old City contact over a few glasses down the pub this evening.
In a piece today King, a former City editor of The Times and now business presenter at Sky News, argues Unilever may have accidently put itself in play after attempting to buy GlaxoSmithKline's consumer division for £50 billion. Below is the link:..
I see rivals at Bloomberg were once again attempting to pour cold water on one of Betaville's uncooked alerts by running an official denial in response to the piece I published on Friday afternoon about Salvatore Ferragamo...
There is a big deal story breaking this Saturday morning from, er, The Sunday Times.
Oliver "Shahsy" Shah and Sabah Meddings have dug out a jumbo scoop about FTSE 100-listed Unilever launching a £50 billion takeover bid for GlaxoSmithKline's consumer division. Below is a link to their cracking tale:..
It's been a while since there has been a fresh bid rumour about Aurinia, the US-listed biopharmaceutical company that featured several times on Betaville late last year.
But STAT - a specialist US-based healthcare publication - has just set tongues wagging...
Betaville hears some savvy stockmarket bears have started pawing away at Aston Martin Lagonda, the London-listed luxury carmaker led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.
Quite why these bearish types have recently been targeting Aston Martin Lagonda remains to be seen but Betaville notes that the company last week unveiled poor figures (also known as a profit warning) that also demonstrated the company's year end cash position was £420 million...
Loyal readers will be aware that this website has been following the THG Holding situation closely but I noticed today that one of Betaville's favourite City commentator's came up with a on excellent column about the company also known as The Hut Group.
Yes, that's Simon English of the Evening Standard, who writes in today's paper about the THG's battle with the short sellers and what Matt Moulding, The Hut Group's controversial founder, needs to do to prove them wrong...
[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].