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.
Last week esteemed colleagues at The Times reported that Hammerson's takeover of rival Intu was a "stupid deal". Below is the link:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hammerson-swoop-for-rival-intu-is-stupiddeal-8xcvnhxkh
However, nobody in the excellent piece was talking on the record...
Remember James Henderson?
He was the chief executive of Bell Pottinger until the firm imploded over its work for the Gupta family in South Africa. And the firm's implosion dominated mainstream media organisations thanks to Lord Bell's car crash interview on BBC's Newsnight and Henderson's high-profile connections, including his glamorous girlfriend Heather Kerzner, the South African born socialite...
Poor old Michael Burt. Rival media organisations were being rather mean to him today after Exane BNP Paribas analyst published an "underperform" research note at 6:00am on Intu Properties, which suggested a takeover is highly unlikely. An hour later Hammerson announces the £3.4 billion purchase of Intu. Betaville, though, knows how difficult it is to land accurate M&A stories, so will refrain from making fun of Burt...
Aim-listed oil and gas company Cabot Energy is working on a a multi-million pound equity fundraising.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Cabot Energy is looking to raise up to £15 million via a placing.
However, it's not clear what price the new shares will be issued at. Sources also said it's unclear what the fresh capital is for.
Cabot Energy's main asset is an onshore light oil production project in Canada, according to its website...
It's been ten years since Sir Christopher Hohn (then just Chris Hohn) launched a viscious activist campaign against ABN Amro by calling for the dismissal of its chief executive and a sale of the business. That move ultimately led to takeover approaches from Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland. And we all know what happened next.....
It might be extremely cold (it was snowing in London earlier today) but Betaville is in a particularly good mood as several of this website's scoopettes have been confirmed this week...
Aim-listed Reach 4 Entertainment is said to be looking to raise up to £5 million of fresh equity from investors.
Reach 4 Entertainment - which specialises in entertainment and brand building for theatrical, film and live entertainment - and its advisers are working on an equity placing and deal could be announced imminently.
However, it's not clear what price new shares will be issued at but some sources said it could be at a discount to the current share price...
Nightclub operator Deltic is laying the groundwork for fresh merger proposal with Revolution Bars Group by secretly buying a stake of around 3pc in the bar company.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Deltic has been buying shares in Revolution since the beginning of this week and could announce the purchase of a 3pc stake prior to the Annual General Meeting...
The arguing over who owes what from the sad demise of BHS has died down since late August.
In part, that's because Sir Philip Green's Arcadia retail empire relinquished a claim on the assets of the department store so FRP Advisory, which is handling the liquidiation of BHS, could hand back £30 million to other creditors...
Hacks at trade rag Financial News dug up a rare piece of good news from Odey Asset Management, the hedge fund firm run by charming Brexiteer Crispin Odey.
The Odey Absolute Return Fund - which is managed by a chap called James Hanbury - is actually doing rather well. According to the FN report, Hanbury's fund is up 11.2pc this year. Below is a link to the FN piece if you want to read all the detail:..
It's good to see the Nordic press finally follow up on Betaville's scoops about Beijing Watertek weighing a bid for Fingerprint Cards.
As usual, Betaville took a fair amount of stick after this website revealed last year that China's Beijing Watertek was preparing a takeover bid for Sweden's Fingerprint Cards, which specialises in biometrics. Here is a link to the original piece:..
Embattled Aim-listed "internet of things" company Telit Communications has finally confirmed it has appointed Richard Kilsby, the former boss of 888, as non-executive chairman. Below is a link to the release:
The news comes after Betaville and The Sunday Times revealed the likely appointment of Kilsby just over a couple of weeks ago. Here are the links to those pieces:..
Shares in Imperial Brands are enjoying a little bounce today. The stock is up around 3pc because Japan Tobacco's new chief executive, Mitsuomi Koizumi, has said:
"If there is a good M&A opportunity, company will pursue regardless of size."
So, naturally speculators are putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with...well, I have pasted a note below from Exane BNP Paribas so you can see what the broker thinks...
Avid followers of Betaville's work might have noticed a scoopette in this weekend's section of The Sunday Times about Accrol, the loo-roll maker, plotting an £18 million equity fundraising. Below is the link in case you missed it:
Here is a funny tale that Betaville picked up over a sumptious lunch at Moro, a restaurant in London that is still making great North African / Spanish fusion dishes.
Betaville will keep the individuals anonymous as sources / reputations need to be protected but it goes something like this:..
I see the various US media organisations are claiming to have broken the "scoop" about Comcast making an approach for 21st Century Fox.
Well, if these organisations had spoken to Betaville Intelligence subscribers they would have realised this story was broken on this news service a couple of hours before.
Below is the link to the piece:..
[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].