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.
In journalism hacks can claim to have discovered a new trend if they find three similar case studies. So, this piece may be a bit premature but I thought it would be worthwhile pointing out nonetheless...
Maybe I spoke (or wrote) too soon!
Microchip Technology has released a statement on the Regulatory News Service this morning although its dated from yesterday.
Here is a link to the Microchip statement: http://www.investegate.co.uk/microchip-technology/rns/mchp-confirms-preliminary-discussions-with-csr-plc/201408290700073020Q/..
Huge hat tip to Ed Hammond and Arash Massoudi the M&A reporters over at the Financial Times for their scoop on CSR this morning. It's not easy landing these types of jackanories during August when most of the dealmaking community is away sunning themselves in the Med...
I have had a fair few calls this morning about this ASOS takeover story that was doing the rounds in the market yesterday and today...
Here is a link to another cracking column by Gary Parkinson, the stock market reporter over at The Times: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/tradesecrets/article4186604.ece
If Parky wrote a book based on his Trade Secrets column, I would definitely read it. And I'm sure many others would to...
Good evening Betavillers!
I would have posted yesterday but I was taking a day off, enjoying the Notting Hill Carnival (for international readers unfamiliar with the Notting Hill Carnival, it is one of the biggest street parties in Europe held in the area of London where I live).
Anyway, I'm sure most of you have noticed that Switzerland-based Roche has agreed to buy US biopharmaceutical company InterMune for $8.3 billion...
Betaville has made it into Gary Parkinson's stock market report today as being the original source of the story behind China Mobile's interest in Vodafone...
Wow - the op eds on M&A are coming thick and fast over at the venerable Financial Times. Sarah Gordon, Europe business editor, has just published her view on what happens next in M&A now that several big deals have collapsed during the summer...
Here is a very interesting take on this year's M&A boom from El-Erian, the former chief executive of bond investor PIMCO. The piece was published in today's Financial Times.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d3b11b24-26c5-11e4-8df5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3ArZZKtct..
I was invited back onto Tip TV today. Here is a link to today's clip:
http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/tip-tv-highlight-ben-harrington-15-08-2014/..
Oh look, I see Bloomberg and Reuters are both reporting that InterMune has attracted several suitors, including GlaxoSmithKline, Actelion, Roche and Sanofi:..
Will the uber-acquisitive Liberty Global/Virgin Media step in with a £500 million plus counter offer for telecoms and IT company Daisy Group?..
It sounds like this InterMune situation is heating up.
Good sources tell me InterMune - a US-based bio-pharmaceutical company that specialises in making a drug to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis - has begun working with bankers from Evercore alongside long-standing financial adviser Goldman Sachs to look at 'strategic options' for the business.
It is believed the appointment of Evercore may lead to a formal auction of InterMune...
Construction group Carillion appears to be very keen to pursue a £3 billion merger with Balfour Beatty despite Balfour's intransigence towards a deal...
I have had a lot of enquiries from loyal Betaville readers in recent weeks about Orange since I published my German Orange article back in June. In case you don't remember, here is a link to the article: http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-german-orange.html..
Alistair Osborne, one of my former colleagues and bosses from The Daily Telegraph, is clearly refreshed after having some time off.
Indeed, Osborne's column today in The Times is highly entertaining and worthwhile a read, especially the item about Walgreen and Boots.
If you haven't looked at it already, here is a link to Osborne's column:..
I have been hearing some pretty interesting things recently about a German drug developer called Evotec AG.
To be honest, it's not clear to me exactly what is going on with this stock.
Geoff Foster, though, recently suggested that a British pharmaceutical company was lining up a EURO 5 a share offer for the business...
Things are going from bad to worse at Bank of America Merrill Lynch's European investment banking team...
Remember that bizarre statement that Mike Ashley's Sports Direct put out a few weeks ago regarding shoe retailer Office?..
Looking over this morning's coverage of British American Tobacco's recent figures, I see a couple of newspaper reporters tried to tempt Nicandro Durante, CEO of BAT, into spilling the beans about whether the tobacco giant has any plans to consolidate its position in the US...
[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].