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.
Sunday review - the Debenhams/Ashley conundrum.
Neil Craven, a colleague over at the Mail on Sunday's business section, landed a cracking tale this weekend about ailing department store Debenhams...
Brexit, a City grandee and a deal...
Here is an idea. Why doesn't a British uber-dealmaker-City-grandee type step up and volunteer his/her services to negotiate a Brexit deal?
Betaville has had plenty dealmakers whinging about how badly the British government is doing with its talks with the EU over Brexit and that it's having a huge impact on UK M&A.
Indeed, Betaville knows of at least one large deal that's just been torpedoed because of the "Brexit uncertainty"...
"One day you're the cock of the walk...
...the next you're the feather duster".
That's the motto of Piers Morgan, former editor of The Daily Mirror. At times, Betaville's career in financial journalism has felt a bit like that. I went from being the star mergers & acquistions reporter on The Daily Telegraph's City desk at the tender age of 27 to now jobbing freelancer and bedroom blogger at the age of 39...
Former business editor turned PR man writes something interesting about activists...
Most hacks on national newspapers are bombarded by public relations-driven research on daily basis. Today, for example, I count around 20 of these type of emails in my inbox. And I'm just a jobbing freelancer and editor of a one man band website. Just imagine how many a staff journalist receives on a national newspaper...
UNCOOKED ALERT: WM Morrison said to ... - Part 3
I'm not sure I have ever seen such a comment - "not aware/unaware of any statement on Amazon chatter" - from a company spokesperson (see below) in reaction to a market tale.
Either the spokesperson got backed into a corner and blurted this out or this is the new way of issuing (non-denial?) denials by company spokespeople...
UNCOOKED ALERT: Spectris said to .....
RARE ALERT: Chelsea FC said to ... - Part 2
Just 48 hours after Betaville's RARE alert on Chelsea FC/Stella EOC it is revealed by former colleagues at The Daily Telegraph that the proprietor of the club is to be targeted by British intelligence as part of a sustained campaign to disrupt Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Below is a link to Con Coughlin's piece:..
RARE ALERT: Chelsea FC said to ...
Football club M&A tends to operate in parallel universe to standard City dealmaking. Well, at least that's what Betaville has experienced over the last decade of covering mergers and acquistions for the business sections of some of Britain's top newspapers.
So, readers should note the above before continuing to read this tale. And to be clear this snippet is very much RARE (see the definition below) of the RAREST kind...
The Deal does its own deal...
Another one of Betaville's former employers - Euromoney Institutional Investor - is in the limelight this morning.
Yes, a long, long time ago Betaville started off as a cub reporter/graduate trainee on Air Finance Journal, one of Euromoney's leading publications, on terrible wages (around 12k a year pre-tax).
But I appreciated the start and it clearly led on to bigger things, so thanks Euromoney...
American activist boosts FirstGroup stake...
Ping! A friendly broker gets in touch to point out that Coast Capital, a New York-based activist hedge fund, has increased its stake in beleguered bus and rail operator FirstGroup to 4.1pc. Below is a link to the RNS disclosure:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/firstgroup-plc--fgp-/prn/holding-s--in-company/20181205131449P16D7/..
RELX Group said to be bidding for £200 million Mack Brooks - sources
Brexit shenanigans are certainly clogging up the City's dealmaking arteries in Britain but there is one sector that is still seeing a lot of activity - publishing, trade shows and exhibitions.
There have been quite a few deals in the space since the beginning of the year - i.e. Informa's £9 billion merger with UBM - and Betaville hears there are likely to be a few more...
RARE ALERT: Mike Ashley said to ... - Part 2
Oh look - I see maverick Mike Ashley has just told Kingy over at Sky News that talks about a sale of Newcastle United are now "at a more progressed stage than they have ever been". Below is a link:
https://news.sky.com/story/mike-ashley-eyes-imminent-sale-of-newcastle-utd-11571007..
RARE ALERT: Acadia Healthcare said to ... - Part 5
There hasn't been much of a market reaction to Dealreporter's latest twist on the Acadia Healthcare buy-out.
The news/intelligence agency, which a long time ago Betaville worked for prior to my days at The Daily Telegraph, claimed over the weekend that KKR is still in talks with Acadia Healthcare despite reports to the contrary...
The party, Brexit and UK M&A
So, the party season has begun. This week Betaville was lucky enough to attend one of the best business parties of year - and it was packed with some of the City's top grandees.
Everybody seemed in a jovial mood, especially as the booze was flowing. But once the conversation turned to the dreaded Brexit the chat soured...
RARE ALERT: Welltower Inc said to be sniffing around £2.5 billion Barchester Healthcare - Part 2
Here is a little update for readers interested in last week's tale about the American REITs interested in Barchester Healthcare, the care home giant.
Sources following the situation said it's unlikely the likes of Welltower Inc and Ventas will look to buy Barchester outright as they are primarily interested in the company's property portfolio...
Broker mergers...
David Wighton, City Editor at Financial News, landed a great scoop on Monday about Macquarie trying to buy Liberum, one of the City of London's mid tier stockbrokers. Below is a the link:
https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/macquarie-in-talks-to-buy-liberum-20181126..
REVEALED: Aston Lark set for £350 million sale - sources
The owner of Aston Lark is preparing to appoint advisers to work on a sale of one of Britain's largest independent insurance brokers.
City sources said Bowmark Capital, the private equity firm that owns Aston Lark, has been quietly carrying out a beauty parade of investment bankers with a view to appointing a firm to run a sale of the business in early 2019.
Industry sources said they thought Aston Lark could be sold for between £300 million and £350 million...
RARE ALERT: Welltower Inc said to be sniffing around £2.5 billion Barchester Healthcare
The Irish punters that invested in care home giant Barchester Healthcare could be about make another from the fortune from the care home company.
Betaville understands that several large American companies, including listed real estate investment trust Welltower Inc, have shown an interest in the business, whose owners have appointed JP Morgan to find a buyer...
Earls Court residents square up to Asia's richest man...
Li Ka-shing has purchased some of Britain's largest businesses but buying the embattled Earls Court development from Capital & Counties might not be as straight forward as the tycoon expected...
[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].