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.
Back on Tip TV talking about Kier Group - again - Friends Life and the telecoms sector
In case you missed it, here is my Tip TV clip from this morning's session.
Permira, Bridgepoint said to weigh £500 million bids for Big Bus Tours - part 2
In case you are following the Big Bus Tours auction in detail, I hear from good sources four bidders have been shortlisted to participate in the sale process...
Dixons Carphone overtakes some of Britain's biggest listed retailers in market capitalisation
Oh look - as of tonight's market close, Dixons Carphone is now larger than both J Sainsbury and WM Morrison, two of Britain's largest supermarket groups...
Rule 2.8 e
I have to admit I was a little bit surprised to see reports this week claiming America's Stryker Corporation is "discussing the financing" of a multi-billion pound acquisition of orthopaedics maker Smith & Nephew...
Permira, Bridgepoint said to weigh £500 million bids for Big Bus Tours
Wow - the UK M&A market has suddenly roared back into life. And to think last Thursday I was on Tip TV noting how quiet it was in the British dealmaking scene for this time of year...
Chinese merchant bank zooms into Formula One
This is rather intriguing. Click on the link below and you will see that Caterham, the Formula One team that recently found itself in financial difficulty, has found a new sponsor in North Square Blue Oak and is set to race in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend...
Back on Tip TV talking about Kier Group, big US deals and BP
Nick Batsford - aka Moose - very kindly asked me back onto Tip TV to talk about M&A. As usual, it was great fun and also a great honour - I preceded veteran City commentators such as Panmure Gordon's David Buik.
Here is a link to today's clip: http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/ma-ben-harrington-betaville-blogspot/ ..
Another US 'vulture' fund circles Stemcor
Microchip finally rules itself out for CSR...
It's game over for investors that were betting on a potential counter bid from US group Microchip Technology for London-listed CSR...
Never say its quiet...
Typical. I mentioned it was unusually quiet in the UK corporate dealmaking scene in a post this morning and a couple of hours later my rivals unearth a cracking scoop...
Chinese said to be circling Premier League - again..
It's unusually quiet in the UK corporate dealmaking scene so I thought I would take a look at a story in another sector I have a profound interest in: Premier League football...
A Sunday review on a Monday...
Tucked away in the middle of Oliver Shah's story on J Sainsbury in The Sunday Times this weekend was quite an interesting nugget of information that appears to have been overlooked by the market...
A man called Klein
Blue is the colour for a red rainmaker
Looking over last week's coverage of Christian Purslow's appointment as the new commercial boss of Chelsea FC it struck me that little has been made of the former City dealmaker's past career in the Square Mile and what that might mean for the Premier League club...
Another cracker from Parky
I know I give Parky's trade secrets column in The Times a lot of airtime on Betaville but I just can't help doing it again this morning as his latest missive is absolutely hilarious, spot on and incredibly well written...
Fancy that - ENRC wins latest tussle with Sir Paul Judge - part 2
My court mole has been back in touch after having a bit of time to look over Mrs Justice Swift's judgement on whether the row between Sir Paul Judge and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation should proceed to trial...
Fancy that - ENRC wins latest tussle with Sir Paul Judge
Ping - an email arrives from my court mole with some fresh information on the ongoing row between Sir Paul Judge and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation...
Hunting for Foxtons - part 2
Hat tip Harriet Dennys, the City diarist over at The Daily Telegraph, for tracking down Jon Hunt's spokesman and getting him/her to provide some sort of comment on the recent speculation the founder of Foxtons may be interested in buying the estate agency back of the public markets...
Fancy that - Top Right Group announces acquisition of Money 20/20
[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].