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.
Some of the City's top bankers, lawyers and industry executives have emerged as investors in a company whose founder is engaged in an almighty row with London-listed AA.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Giles Fitzpatrick, Michael Symons and Kevin Gaskell were seed investors in Motoriety, an app that links motorists to repair garages that was set up by entrepreneur Lucy Burnford...
OneView Group, a company that specialises in selling cloud-based software products, is said to be looking to raise up to £5 million via an equity fundraising.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, OneView Group - formerly known as Armour Group - is working on a plan to raise between £3 million and £5 million...
Cabinet rows over Brexit failed to stop the very top echelons of government from attending Cavendish Corporate Finance's 30th birthday party tonight.
Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Matt Hancock, Culture Secretary, all made it down to the shindig at Lancaster House, a neo classical mansion built for the second son of King George III in 1825...
Loyal followers of Betaville's work might have spotted a piece written in this weekend's The Sunday Times business section about the imminent £1.5 billion sale of Cory Riverside Energy by Strategic Value Partners. Well, in case you didn't I have pasted a link below:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tycoon-li-ka-shing-eyes-waste-giant-w6p2cl93s..
A couple of weeks ago the Financial Times claimed Barclays was plotting a merger with Standard Chartered. This week the Pink'un is reporting Societe Generale is seeking a tie-up with Italian rival Unicredit. Below is a link to today's splash story:
https://www.ft.com/content/b87ee262-6723-11e8-b6eb-4acfcfb08c11..
On Monday Sky News via the Kleinmanator bellowed the government was about to launch a sale of some of its stake in the dreaded Royal Bank of Scotland.
But nothing came, which was a surprise as the Kleinmanator is normally on the money.
So, what happened?
Well, the City Insider column in the yesterday's venerable Financial Times has a decent explanation. Below is a link in case you missed it:..
It's busy in the M&A world. Perhaps the busiest it has ever been for dealmakers over the last decade in Britain.
But there is one thing gnawing away at Betaville: it's also extremely busy in the UK restructuring market, with CVAs, liquidations and administrations taking place across several sectors, such as leisure, retail and construction contracting...
There has been plenty of coverage about Wesfarmers/Bunnings disastrous acquisition of Homebase over the last couple of days - and how the Aussies tend to mess up major British acquisitions (think back to Slater & Gordon's £673 million purchase of Quindell).
But just as Homebase was being sold to Hilco for a £1 another Australian-listed company was quietly completing an audacious raid on a London-based business - John Guest, the widget manufacturer set up in 1961...
The company that prints magazines for Vogue publisher Conde Nast is set to change hands after its private equity owners appointed investment banking advisers to weigh strategic options for the business.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Rutland Partners - the buy-out firm that recently sold Pizza Hut UK to Pricoa for £100 million - has hired bankers from NM Rothschild to examine a sale or float of Walstead Investments. ..
The predator stalking Capital & Counties Properties since late last year is said to be closing in on the property developer.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, the potential buyers interested in the beleguered London-based developer are said to be on the verge of formalising a proposal for some or all of the FTSE 250-listed business...
The venerable Financial Times landed a cracking scoop overnight about Barclays explorer a merger with Standard Chartered. I have pasted the link below:
https://www.ft.com/content/7b3c789a-5e0b-11e8-9334-2218e7146b04
It looks like a well-researched piece: there are three by-lines, including one from Patrick Jenkins, a very senior FT hack who has been covering banks for years...
Ping! A marketing document arrives from Odey Wealth, which as far as I can work out is the private client division for charming Crispin's hedge fund group.
Anyway, the letter is entitled: "The Tide is Turning". Does that ring any bells?
It goes on to say:..
Reliance Worldwide Corporation, the Australian plumbing equipment manfacturer, is in advanced talks to buy privately-owned UK-based John Guest for £500 million.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Reliance Worldwide Corporation (RWC) - which is listed in Australia - beat off competition from several private equity firms, including US-based AEA Investors, for John Guest...
This is pretty unusual: publishing company Quarto has just announced that its chairman was thrown off the board at the company's Annual Meeting today.
Peter Read and 3 other non-executive directors were voted off and will be replaced by founder and 20pc shareholder Dr Laurence Orbach, Mr Chuk Kin Lau, Ms Mei Lan Lam and Mick Mousley, former chief financial officer of Quarto.
Ouch!..
After 31 instalments to this long-running saga it would appear Betaville is able to finally answer the question posed in headline: yes, the tide is turning for charming Crispin.
According to the sports pages (hedge fund parlance for the HSBC fund performance rankings), it would appear the flagship Odey European Fund is one of the best performers in Europe this year, rising 17.07pc so far...
Here is a juicy snippet: David Cameron, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, is said to be in talks to join Lex Greensill's financial services group.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Mr Cameron has been holding discussions with Mr Greensill over the last twelve months about working for his firm in a senior advisory role...
The deals are coming thick and fast in this febrile M&A market.
Indeed, Betaville undestands Travel Counsellors, a travel agent that uses 1700 "freelance advisers", is close to being sold to Vitruvian Partners for around £250 million.
Vitruvian Partners has previously backed Just Eat, Farfetch and Skyscanner...
[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].