Sunday review
Sunday, 25 January 2015, 11:41 pm
Huge hat tip to Oliver Shah over at The Sunday Times for his scoop about Sir Philip Green putting BHS on the market. Here is a link to Oliver's piece:..
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.
Aussie lawyers Slater & Gordon in exclusive talks to buy Quindell's legal services division - part 5
Saturday, 24 January 2015, 1:26 am
Sorry this is a bit late in the day but I just thought I would put up Slater & Gordon's slightly odd confirmation to my story from a couple of days ago about how the Aussie group is in talks to buy Quindell's legal services division.
Here is a link to Slater & Gordon's statement:
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20150123/pdf/42w4d87sk12pfl.pdf..
Ruddy on Ashley
Friday, 23 January 2015, 7:04 pm
Graham Ruddick has written a particularly good viewpoint piece in this morning's Telegraph.
Graham - a jolly nice chap, a former colleague and one of the best young hacks I have ever worked with - attempts to unravel what maverick Mike Ashley is up to by shuffling his shareholdings about in Sports Direct.
Here is a link a link to Graham's piece, which is well worth a read:..
Aussie lawyers Slater & Gordon in exclusive talks to buy Quindell's legal services division - part 3
Friday, 23 January 2015, 1:23 am
Oh look - I see Quindell has just confirmed my story from last night. I have pasted the company's announcement below:..
Aussie lawyers Slater & Gordon in exclusive talks to buy Quindell's legal services division - part 2
Thursday, 22 January 2015, 7:24 pm
So, here are some of the (eye-popping) numbers being talked about for Slater & Gordon's purchase of Quindell's legal services division.
To start with, when talks first began I am told by sources that Slater & Gordon said it will pay a non-refundable £15 million to enter into exclusive discussions with Quindell.
Since then, the Australian law firm has been crawling over of Quindell's legal services (QLS) business, doing due diligence...
Aussie lawyers Slater & Gordon in exclusive talks to buy Quindell's legal services division
Thursday, 22 January 2015, 3:53 am
Here is a juicy jackanory - top sources inform me that listed Australian law firm Slater & Gordon is in exclusive discussions to buy Quindell's legal services division.
I understand Slater & Gordon, one of the first law firms to go public, has been working with advisers from Greenhill on the purchase of QLS.
Codex, an advisory boutique, is one of the firms working for Quindell's board, according to my sources...
A remarkable coincidence
Wednesday, 21 January 2015, 9:02 pm
I see Reuters is reporting US pharmaceutical company Salix has hired bankers from Centreview Partners to look at strategic options. Here is a link:..
Trains, football clubs and Chinese billionaires
Tuesday, 20 January 2015, 10:37 pm
It appears Chinese property giant Dalian Wanda has put its plans to purchase a Premier League football club on hold...
Back on Tip TV talking about Telefonica, Shire and Afren
Monday, 19 January 2015, 11:55 pm
Moose (Nick Batsford) invited me back onto Tip TV this morning and let me ramble almost uninterrupted for 10 minutes. Here is a clip of today's monologue on M&A by me: ..
Volatile Afren - part 2
Friday, 16 January 2015, 6:31 pm
ZhenHua Oil. That is the name of the "mystery" Chinese company I referred to in yesterday's blog post, according to my reliable sources...
Volatile Afren
Friday, 16 January 2015, 2:25 am
Wow - embattled oil explorer Afren has leapt 33pc to close at 28.7p!..
RARE alert: PWC said to have completed first draft of Quindell review
Wednesday, 14 January 2015, 8:11 pm
If you are following the Quindell saga, I picked up another interesting titbit on the insurance claims group yesterday that I thought I might share with loyal readers...
Catlin snippet
Tuesday, 13 January 2015, 8:43 pm
Here is an interesting snippet on XL Group's £2.7 billion takeover of Lloyd's of London insurer Catlin...
Another day, another Aer Lingus article
Tuesday, 13 January 2015, 8:10 pm
Bloomberg is really boosting its coverage of the Aer Lingus takeover situation. The newswire has just pumped out another article:
Chinese interest in Premier League continues...
Tuesday, 13 January 2015, 7:05 pm
DJI Holdings, the Aim-listed Chinese lottery operator that I mentioned last week on Tip TV, has just announced it has signed a partnership contract with Manchester City Football Club. Here is a link:
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Club-news/2015/January/DJI-holdings-announcement..
Curious
Tuesday, 13 January 2015, 2:24 am
Bloomberg is today reporting that IAG is planning to raise its EURO 1.3 billion offer for Aer Lingus to EURO 2.50 a share. Here is a link to the story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-12/british-airways-owner-iag-said-to-plan-higher-bid-for-aer-lingus.html..
A sort of weekend newspaper review
Monday, 12 January 2015, 3:05 am
The biggest deal of the weekend never made it into any of the Sunday papers - Shire's $5.2 billion acquisition of US biopharmaceutical company NPS...
Stitch up
Sunday, 11 January 2015, 1:42 am
Hat tip to Harriet Agnew for producing a highly amusing "City insider" column in yesterday's Financial Times...
RARE alert kicks off 2015 in style!
Saturday, 10 January 2015, 3:09 am
I see British Airways owner IAG has finally confirmed my first ever RARE alert, which was published on January 2, 2015...
Damp squib?
Saturday, 10 January 2015, 1:42 am
If Elliott Advisers voted against today's Scheme of Arrangement to take Prezzo private, then it looks like the American hedge fund lost out by a small margin.
According to today's press release, just over 20pc of Prezzo shareholders voted against the Scheme (typically, you need 75pc approval from shareholders).
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