Betaville

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.

Agnelli family said to be in talks to buy 20pc of Swiss Re

Wednesday, 12 March 2014, 2:44 pm

I think I might have landed another genuine scoop. Here it is:

I understand a trust controlled by Italy's Agnelli family has been holding talks with Swiss Re about buying a 20pc stake in the insurance giant worth up to 8bn Swiss Francs.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the Agnelli family trust is planning to buy the 20pc stake in Swiss Re by making a 'tender offer' to all shareholders with an agreement from the Swiss Re board...

ING moves closer to Euro 8 billion float of its insurance arm

Monday, 10 March 2014, 11:33 pm

I hear one of the largest flotations in Europe is getting close to lift off.

ING, which was bailed out by the Dutch government after the financial crisis, confirmed earlier this year it has already appointed JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and, funnily enough, ING on a potential listing of its insurance business...

Another outstanding column from Parkinson

Monday, 10 March 2014, 6:03 pm

Gary Parkinson, stockmarket correspondent at The Times, has produced another excellent 'Trade Secrets' column this morning.

It's a piece that combines incredible writing with profound understanding of how the City's dealmaking machine works.

The column is really worth a read. Here is the link: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article4027906.ece..

Metso under the spotlight

Friday, 7 March 2014, 7:51 pm

A Finnish company called Metso has caught my eye.

Metso shares were up 5pc yesterday and are up another 1.5pc today (readers should be aware the stock crashed at the beginning of the year).

There has been vague talk doing the rounds all week that there is "something going on" with Metso
- which supplies technology to resources companies - although none of my sources seem to know precisely what...

Aviva and its chief bottle washer

Thursday, 6 March 2014, 6:25 pm

Mark Wilson appears to be doing a good job with the turnaround of Aviva.

At his first set of annual results, Mr Wilson this morning reported full-year profits of £2.2bn after tax in 2013 compared to a £2.9bn loss the previous year.

Mr Wilson also said the turnaround at the FTSE 100 insurer is 'intensifying'...

Hedgies and their love affair with Belsize Park continues....or not

Thursday, 6 March 2014, 1:14 am

What is it with top hedge fund managers and beautiful properties in Belsize Park?

I hear from knowledgeable sources this lovely mansion - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-21869253.html - is being sold by one of London's most successful hedgies of the noughties credit boom.
..

FT Alphaville lights up Reynolds Lorrilard $50bn merger story

Monday, 3 March 2014, 10:24 pm

Hat tip to the boys over at FT Alphaville for breaking the Reynolds American bid for Lorrilard story on Markets Live this morning...

OFT kicks off investigation into Guardian-backed fashion merger

Saturday, 1 March 2014, 1:03 am

Here is an interesting little story about a company backed by the Guardian Media Group.

I hear Top Right Group's acquisition of US fashion forecaster Stylesight is now being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
..

AO.com's business card part 2

Thursday, 27 February 2014, 11:36 pm

I have just managed to obtain John Roberts's business card thanks to a loyal Betaville reader.

Mr Roberts is the chief executive AO.com and just made a cool £86m from the float of his online white goods retailer (good for him, by the way).

It's not a big, clear photo but it's an image nonetheless.

Here you go:

..

A Chinese takeaway

Thursday, 27 February 2014, 6:45 pm

Interesting to see the Financial Times report today that China Mobile may want to buy stakes in European telecoms companies. See the link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1ffe8c84-9e20-11e3-95fe-00144feab7de.html#axzz2uLMyQZUz..

Is SFR back on Vodafone's radar?

Wednesday, 26 February 2014, 11:35 pm

There is a peculiar theory (to be clear, this is just a rumour and not a genuine scoop like some of my previous posts) doing the rounds in the market. It goes something like this: Vodafone is interested in buying French telecoms company SFR back from Vivendi.
..

AO.com's business card

Wednesday, 26 February 2014, 2:51 am

Can loyal Betaville readers get hold of, or take a picture of, the business card of John Roberts, the chief executive of AO.com?

AO.com is the appliances business that is due to imminently list on the London market with a valuation of almost £1.5bn.

I am told Mr Roberts's business card is rather amusing. If you do come across it, please email to betaville1@gmail.com...

Carphone Warehouse and Dixons merger talks scoop confirmed on RNS

Monday, 24 February 2014, 6:39 pm

Fantastic news! Dixons and Carphone Warehouse have confirmed my scoop from earlier this morning about their merger talks on the regulatory news service.
I have pasted the most important parts of the announcement below:..

Carphone Warehouse in merger talks with Dixons to create £3.5bn electrical goods giant

Monday, 24 February 2014, 4:52 pm

..

TCI founder denies purchase of north London mansions

Saturday, 22 February 2014, 1:11 am

Chris Hohn, the founder of The Children's Investment Fund, has denied he is the secretive hedge fund manager who has recently been snapping up beautiful properties in Belsize Park and Primrose Hill.

Some of my sources claimed Mr Hohn, who is well-known in the City for his aggressive style of shareholder activism, was behind the purchase of the Belsize Park property (see the picture below) in yesterday's Betaville post...

Primrose Hill hedgie is said to have also bought Belsize Park pad

Friday, 21 February 2014, 2:54 am

The mysterious tale involving the hedgie and the £20m plus Primrose Hill mansion continues.

Some of my sources are sure the secretive hedge fund manager has recently bought another beautiful property in Belsize Park - just round the corner from Primrose Hill pile.
..

£20m Primrose Hill pile supposedly snapped up by top hedgie

Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 6:46 pm

Which well-known hedge fund manager has recently bought this £20m plus pile in Primrose Hill?

Looks like he/she is doing some serious renovation work.
Indeed, multi-million pound renovations, such as sticking an olympic size swimming pool on a second lower ground floor underneath your brand new mansion seems to be the vogue thing to do nowadays. Whether that's the plan with this lovely house remains to be seen...

Predator circles Sweett Group

Tuesday, 18 February 2014, 4:27 pm

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Parkinson on top form this morning

Monday, 17 February 2014, 10:52 pm

Gary Parkinson's Trading Secrets column in today's The Times is highly amusing - here is a link to it in case you haven't had a chance to read it.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article4007347.ece..

Essar Energy scoop sets the agenda

Monday, 17 February 2014, 3:36 am

Bloggers have set the agenda for the this weekend's newspapers.

The business sections of both The Times and The Sunday Times splashed on Betaville's Friday afternoon scoop about the billionaire Ruia brothers making an £900m offer for FTSE 250-listed Essar Energy, which was later confirmed on the regulatory news service...

[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].