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.
Deal hacks at the Financial Times have just delivered a decent scoop.
According to the venerable Financial Times, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is preparing a takeover bid for Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services. Below is a link to the FT story:
https://www.ft.com/content/a6f0251b-454b-4aa8-9c16-aee03f0c2e46..
Abu Dhabi-based TAQA has now confirmed it is in discussions with the largest shareholders in Naturgy Energy Group about purchasing their shareholdings in the Spanish gas and electricity group.
Below is a link to the Reuters story with the confirmation from TAQA:..
There was more follow up in the Spanish press of little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert about the Naturgy Energy Group takeover rumours.
This morning Expansion reported that TAQA, the Abu Dhabi-based group circling Naturgy, had hired bankers from NM Rothschild and Lazard to advice it on "was to enter Naturgy's" capital.
Then just now Naturgy's shares were suspended.
I wonder what could be going on...?..
And now for the formal confirmation to little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alerts about the potential Naturgy Energy Group deal.
Criteria, Naturgy Energy Group's largest shareholder, has said on the record it is in discussions with an investor group that has been talking to some of Spanish energy provider's core shareholders over a "possible partnership agreement"...
Another day, another follow up to little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert about the Naturgy Energy Group takeover talks.
This time it is Cinco Dias that is reporting that the AD Power, a division of sovereign wealth fund ADQ, is in negotiations with the largest shareholders of Spain's Naturgy Energy Group about a bid for the whole company. According to the newspaper, the deal would be conducted through AP Power's TAQA unit...
It would appear Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia has decided to follow up little old Betaville's UNCOOKED alert from last week about the takeover and stakebuilding talk surrounding Spanish gas firm Naturgy.
According to La Vanguardia, a firm from the United Arab Emirates is in talks with Criteria Caixa - Naturgy's largest shareholder - about purchasing shareholdings from private equity firm CVC Capital and GIP...
I see The Wall Street Journal has broken the Informatica takeover story little old Betaville was chasing down yesterday afternoon.
According to the venerable WSJ, Salesforce is in advanced talks to buy US-listed data management company Informatica.
However, in an odd twist the WSJ claims the price of the deal being discussed is below Informatica's current share price of $38.48...
Rivals at Reuters picked up an interesting tale last night about how the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company held takeover talks with FTSE 100-listed oil giant BP.
Little old Betaville's former employers at The Daily Telegraph also deemed the story important enough to run on the front page of its business section. Below are the relevant links:..
So, the bears have come out of the woods and are now publicly mauling Global Life Inc, the US-listed insurance group.
Loyal readers might recall that a couple of weeks ago little old Betaville highlighted how bears were circling Global Life Inc. Below is a link to that story:
https://www.betaville.co.uk/news/bears-circle-global-life-inc/..
Dealmaking continues despite worries about a stockmarket sell off.
This morning self storage giant Shurgard announced the £378 million takeover of London-listed rival Lok'nStore. Below are the full details of the offer, which is pitched at just a 15.9pc premium...
Naturgy Energy Group SA, the Spain-listed gas and electricity company, has come under the spotlight amid takeover and stakebuilding talk.
People following the situation have heard rumours a company based in the Gulf region, possibly Abu Dhabi, is circling Naturgy Energy Group.
However, the precise nature of the transaction remains unclear, said people following the situation.
Naturgy Energy Group has seen stakebuilding in the past...
Centaur Media, publisher of The Lawyer trade publication, has finally confirmed little old Betaville's RARE Alert about private equity interest published earlier this morning.
Waterland Private Equity, the Dutch private equity firm that bought mental healthcare chain The Priory several years ago for £1 billion, is in talks with Centaur Media. Below is a link to the confirmation:..
I see arch rivals at Bloomberg got to the latest L'Occitane takeover story that little old Betaville was also chasing over the last 24 hours.
According to Bloomie hacks, Blackstone has been lined up to finance Reinold Geiger's take private of skin care company L'Occitane and has been conducting due diligence...
STG Partners, an American private equity firm that specialises in buying software businesses, has agreed a deal to buy London-listed Gresham Technologies for 146.7 million.
The offer for Gresham Technologies - which specialises in selling software and cloud services to financial firms - is 163p a share in cash. That is a premium of 26.94pc to yesterday's closing share price. Below is a link to the full details of the deal:..
The Wall Street Journal is on a bit of roll.
Today, the venerable newspaper revealed that private equity giant Blackstone is set to purchase upmarket flats owner Apartment Income REIT for around $10 billion or $39.12 a share in cash. And the deal was quickly confirmed following publication.
Below is the link the original WSJ piece:..
Oliver Gill over at The Sunday Times dug out an intriguing new line about London-listed gambling giant Entain.
According to Gill, private equity firm Apollo is circling Entain after the company hired advisers from Moelis to look at selling some of its brands, such as Ladbokes, Coral and Bwin...
I see NAHL Group has finally confirmed part of yesterday's UNCOOKED Alert published by little old Betaville.
In its statement NAHL confirms it is considering sale of its critical care division - Bush & Company Rehabilitation Limited. Below is a link to the full statement:
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/NAH/response-to-speculation/16410450..
The Wall Street Journal was bang on the money with its recent scoop about Johnson & Johnson move on US-listed medical device maker Shockwave Medical.
The terms of the deal have just been announced and I have pasted the link below if you want to real all of the details of the transaction:..
[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].